((HT: NW Florida Daily News))Tom McLaughlin from the Daily News was present when the verdict was given to regional sports-talk show host Charles "Scott" McKinney ((pictured, thanks Devon Ravine/NW Florida Daily News)).
The judge was not a happy man...
Okaloosa County ((FL)) Circuit Judge Thomas Remington was not moved by the "voluminous letters" he said he'd received from McKinney's supporters. He gave McKinney the stiffest penalty possible under a plea agreement reached January 2- five years in prison.
McKinney was charged with 11 counts of fraud and grand theft. Under terms of the plea, he could receive no less than a year in prison and no more than five years. In addition to the sentence, Remington also ordered McKinney to serve 50 years' probation following his prison term and to pay restitution of $188,508.
McKinney hosted two programs from his Florida base, but he is more known regionally for his "Southern Sports Tonight" program that ran evenings in southeastern markets.
McKinney was arrested in March after six men who had invested in his "Southern Sports Tonight" show claimed he stole nearly $140,000 from them. Authorities said he sold shares in Southern Sports Tonight LLC to investors by claiming he was about to send his show into national syndication.
The shares he sold - some of them for 49 percent ownership each - far exceeded 100 percent stock in the company. McKinney originally was charged with 16 offenses, but by Tuesday's sentencing that number had been cut to 11. The charges brought included felony investment fraud and grand theft.
The prosecutor in the case also had records that showed McKinney had spent the investor's money on his own lifestyle and gambling.
As of Wednesday, the "Southern Sports Tonight" website has been taken down and we all now wonder what will be the future of McKinney's sidekick- Ballpark Frank.
But you can still listen to what's left of the show on 98.1 FM's website...
If you like...
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