A sheriff’s deputy bilked $11 million from investors. They don’t know where the money went.
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The Washington Post logo A sheriff’s deputy bilked $11 million from investors. They don’t know where the money went.
Craig Harbaugh made a convincing case while seeking loans and investments in his firearms company, Tactical Solutions Gear LLC.
calendar: A Dodge County sheriffs deputy pled guilty to one count of wire fraud. (iStock) A Dodge County sheriffs deputy pled guilty to one count of wire fraud. (iStock)
The Fremont, Neb., man rattled off law enforcement agencies in states from Alaska to Tennessee as clients. He had the contracts and purchase orders to back up his claims. And, in a detail that reportedly resonated with at least one investor, he himself worked as a Dodge County sheriff’s deputy.
But Harbaugh, 50, admitted this week that none of the 12 agencies he named was actually doing business with him: He had falsified the documents. It was, he acknowledged in a guilty plea filed in Nebraska federal court, “effectively a Ponzi scheme.”
In what the Omaha World-Herald described as potentially “one of the largest individual embezzlements in Nebraska history,” Harbaugh’s ploy bilked nearly $11 million from a bank and four investors.
The now-former deputy could not be reached for comment Tuesday. He faces up to 20 years in prison at his May sentencing.
“I was irresponsible, immoral, criminal, and selfish,” he told an employee of Great Western Bank after his scheme was discovered, according to the plea agreement. “I wish I could go back and take it all back but all I can do is try and ask for your forgiveness and move forward.”
Under the terms of the deal accepted in court Monday, he pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. Prosecutors agreed to dismiss 12 other charges and to not pursue Harbaugh for fraud, tax and money laundering crimes uncovered during the discovery process.
It’s not clear what happened to the millions of dollars Harbaugh stole. Nebraska Department of Justice Criminal Chief Michael Norris told The Washington Post “it would be premature” to disclose that information.
An unidentified couple who lost $4.6 million to Harbaugh said in an interview with the World-Herald they weren’t counting on seeing their money again.
“What he did with the money is a true mystery,” the husband said.
When his $5 million scheme collapsed, a lawyer tried to kill himself. He survived — but so did his confession.
Before his October 2019 arrest, Harbaugh had spent more than two decades with the sheriff’s office, including as a trainer and investigator. He repeatedly made the local newspaper, the Fremont Tribune, for both his case work and his charity work.
In 2017, after the sheriff’s office raised $1,500 during No Shave November, Harbaugh told the Tribune he hoped such efforts would counter the negative spotlight being put on police because of “all the things going on around the country.”
“We want everyone to see that we are just people too who want to help,” he said. “We want the community to know that we are there for them, not only with the jobs that we do when we get called out, but also just in terms of being good public servants not only in a professional atmosphere, but also a personal one, as well.”
Behind the scenes, though, Harbaugh’s scheme was already underway, according to court records. His plan had been for Tactical Solutions Gear, which he set up in 2008 and licensed as a federal firearms dealer, to contract with government and commercial entities for purchases of guns, ammunition and other equipment, court records say. But beginning in 2014, Harbaugh used photographs and phony documents to dupe Great Western Bank and private investors.
While promising a return on investment, he merely took what he earned from one investor to pay off another. He assured frustrated investors, who gave between $40,000 and $4.6 million, that he’d have their money — eventually.
“Thanks a lot for [losing] all of [our] retirement money $1,344,000 you just kept taking [our] money,” one wrote in a text message included in court records.
“I swear that your money is good,” Harbaugh responded. “I did not lose it. You will have it on Monday.”
He told another, “I just don’t want any issues with you or your family. Really sorry. This won’t be an issue when the other check comes in.”
An employee at Great Western Bank, which extended loans totaling more than $6 million, eventually checked with several agencies and learned they did not have any agreements with Harbaugh.
When confronted, he sent the email about being “irresponsible, immoral, criminal, and selfish,” court records say. He added, “I am so sorry and never meant to hurt you or deceive you or take advantage of you. I made a poor decision and it has cost me a lot right now.”
One jilted investor, a former Fremont businessman, told the World-Herald that Harbaugh had gone to great lengths to earn his trust, including taking him to the bank. But his job also lent him an air of credibility, the businessman said, and “he hid behind that badge.”
“Our thought was, ‘If you can’t trust a cop, who can you trust?’ ” he said.
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