Tampa Radio: Former Host Arrested for Ponzi Scheme

Gary Gauthier

Gary L. Gauthier, the former host of a Saturday morning Christian radio show called “It’s God’s Money,” is one of two men arrested this month in a Ponzi scheme that defrauded 38 people in the Tampa Bay area of $6 million, according to tbo.com.

Gauthier, 64, who now lives in Okemos, Mich., was arrested last week in Tampa, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. David George Dreslin, 54, of Seminole, was arrested earlier in the month, the FDLE reported.

The two are charged with one count of racketeering, one count of conspiring to engage in a pattern of racketeering activity, two counts of organized fraud, six counts of the sale of an unregistered security, six counts of the sale of a security by an unregistered dealer and two counts of security fraud.

Dreslin attracted people through his accounting practice, and Gauthier’s victims were the listeners of his Tampa radio shows, “It’s God’s Money” and “It’s All About Florida Real Estate,” the documents say.

They were, for a time, broadcast on Tampa radio station WTBN 570 AM and WGUL 860 AM, both owned by Salem Communications.  General manager Barbara Yoder didn’t return a telephone call Wednesday for comment.

“A majority of the victims stated they relied upon the statements made by Gauthier because they were made on a Christian radio station,” according to the document charging the pair.

“Most of the victims were elderly, ... over the age of 60,” the document says.

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