Developer Pleads Guilty In $5.7 Million Bank Fraud Scheme

BALTIMORE (AP) -- A developer has pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit bank fraud in a scheme that prosecutors say brought him $5.7 million from property deals near Maryland's Deep Creek Lake and Cheat Lake in neighboring West Virginia.

Samuel VanSickle of Accident was convicted Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore. He is the last of three defendants convicted in the case.

Prosecutors say VanSickle and Louis Strosnider fraudulently obtained real-estate loans for three land deals.

VanSickle faces up to 30 years in prison at his sentencing March 17.

Strosnider pleaded guilty to conspiracy in August and faces up to 30 years.

Oakland attorney Angela Blythe was convicted of related charges in October. She was sentenced to a year in prison, and ordered to pay nearly $1.6 million in fines and restitution.

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