Securities salesman enters not guilty plea

12/30/2005

FREMONT An Indianapolis man has pleaded not guilty to charges he sold more than $117,000 in securities to three Ohio residents and then spent the money himself instead of investing it.

Allen Snyder, 67, appeared Wednesday in Sandusky County Common Pleas Court, where Judge James Sherck set bond at $10,000.

Mr. Snyder is charged with three counts of grand theft, two counts of securities fraud, two counts of making false representations in the sale of securities, and two counts of false reports of securities transactions.

The Ohio Division of Securities alleges that Mr. Snyder and HiTech Co. Accounting Services of Indianapolis persuaded Janice and Alex Liskai of Fremont and Brenda Shoemaker of McComb, Ohio, to establish Individual Retirement Accounts with him. The funds were supposed to be used to buy government bonds between November, 2002, and February, 2003.

According to the indictment, Mr. Snyder never invested the funds and prepared phony account statements.