Ortley Beach, NJ man allegedly kept instead of invested 200-grand of his friends money

⚖️ Ortley Beach man sentenced for misappropriating more than $200-grand

⚖️ A friend gave him money to invest but he turned around and took for himself

⚖️ He created fraudulent financial documents in his friends name

A resident from the Ortley Beach section of Toms River has been sentenced to five years in prison after keeping more than $200,000 that his friend gave him to invest on his behalf.

Over a nearly two year period between May of 2017 and February of 2019, the now 70-year old John Hammond had been accused of convincing a friend to give him more than $200,000 to invest on his behalf on the promise of large returns, according to Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer.

Toms River Police Detectives dove in further to find out what happened upon that finding that initial information and learned that the friend would deposit money into Hammond's bank account believing that it would then be transferred into an investment account in his name.

When the friend started asking Hammond to pull some of the money from the investment account he was supposed to have set up, the Ortley Beach resident made up phony financial documents that he pretended were from Fidelity Investments.

Detectives learned Hammond never did any of the things he said he would, only kept the money for himself.

Hammond surrendered himself to Toms River Police on September 8, 2020 where he was processed and charged.

He later pleaded guilty to Theft by Deception.

In addition to the five years in prison, Hammond has been ordered to pay $211,415.98 in restitution to the victim.

Prosecutor Billhimer also said that Ocean County Assistant Prosecutor Taylor Toscano handled this case on behalf of the State.