Staff report
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Brian Tymone Auplant, 36, has been charged with engaging in a scheme to defraud after allegedly visiting numerous Butler Plaza businesses over a period of several months, claiming to be a partial owner of the land and saying the businesses owed him money.
Auplant allegedly visited the businesses between October and December of 2022, giving various stories to employees and asking for money but never asking for a specific dollar amount. Employees told a responding Gainesville Police Department officer that he sometimes said he was a partial owner of the store, an owner of Butler plaza, a subcontractor, or a distributor/vendor. None of the businesses gave him any money…