MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) – A Montgomery man was sentenced Monday after being convicted of securities fraud, District Attorney Azzie Oliver and Director of the Alabama Securities Commission Amanda Senn announced.
Demetrius Antoine Blankenship, 40, who lived in Montgomery at the time of the offense, was sentenced by the Honorable James H. Anderson to 10 years’ imprisonment, two years to be served with the remainder suspended, and ordered to serve three years of supervised probation, in addition to paying $95,000 at a rate of $5,000 per month for securities fraud, a class B felony.
According to police, Blankenship solicited an investor in Maryland, falsely claiming that he would use the money to develop hydroponic farming operations in Mississippi and in Shorter, Alabama. Blankenship also falsely claimed that he had invested $170,000 of his own money and partly owned one of the farms…