HUTCHINSON, Kan. — After a continuance a month ago, a Hutchinson-area man who entered a “guilty” plea to one count of felony theft was sentenced to 32 months or two years, eight months in prison
Mahlon Stutzman admitted that between Jan. 1, 2011, and Jan. 1, 2014, he scammed five men out of thousands of dollars. The state says he gave false representation to the victims to deprive them of their money. He claimed to have connections to some millionaires such as Warren Buffet and others.
One of the victims questioned whether he had money now to pay victims back, while another said he could live without the money and says he had given money to Stutzman a number of times even when he suspected he was being lied to. His problem with Stutzman was that he lied to God.
In a separate case, Stutzman was convicted of theft by deception for forging a check from one victim and presenting the check to another victim where he received $200. This crime allegedly occurred back on March 24, 2014. He apparently wasn’t good at paying for services rendered. He was granted probation earlier in that case. One of the victims in that case called him a master manipulator and believes he’ll screw people over again when he gets out.
Before sentencing, Stutzman told Judge Joe McCarville that, “we can make this right, but it’ll take some time.”
In handing down the sentence, Judge McCarville told the defendant, “I don’t think you understand how wrong it is in what you did.” He says in order to find a border box finding, he has to find some reason to do so. He says if he thought it would lead to the defendant paying the victims back, he might consider it, but doesn’t believe he will. The judge did however order restitution in the case, which comes to $425,313.
The judge revoked his probation in the theft by deception case, but ran that sentence concurrent to the felony case.