Man gets 1 year in jail for fraud

PROVO — A man on his way to prison for his role in a multimillion-dollar real estate fraud scheme in the Provo Riverbottoms pleaded guilty Thursday to an unrelated charge of securities fraud.

Bradley Kitchen, 42, pleaded guilty in 4th District Court to a third-degree felony of securities fraud and was sentenced to one year in jail and ordered to pay $255,000 in restitution.

The case, which happened around the same time as the Riverbottoms fraud, involved Kitchen acquiring a loan from a man and assuring him it was secured by two pieces of real estate — a home in Provo and a home in St. George, said prosecutor Jason Sant.

But Kitchen did not own either of the homes and also failed to mention to the investor that he had filed for bankruptcy and was facing a $600,000 judgment in an unrelated civil case, Sant said.

Although the state presented a long list of alleged misrepresentations, Kitchen's attorney, Rebecca Hyde Skordas, said Kitchen only agreed in the plea deal to admit that he failed to disclose the $600,000 judgement.

"The idea is that it was something an investor would want to know before (investing)," she said.

Although Kitchen had already made significant restitution payments to the victim before charges were filed, Skordas said, he became unable to pay the rest.

Prosecutors had been reviewing another potential criminal case against Kitchen, but agreed not to file it if Kitchen pays $24,000 in restitution to another, unrelated victim, Sant said.

Judge Samuel McVey sentenced Kitchen to a year in Utah County Jail, which Kitchen will serve concurrently with his 51-month federal sentence in a federal prison in California. Kitchen reports June 1. His 36-month probation will begin after he is released.

Kitchen's federal prison time is the result of his actions with Ronald Clarke, David Bolick, Steven Cloward and Jeffery David, who were federally indicted by a grand jury July 2008 on counts of mail and wire fraud.

Kitchen, along with Bolick and Cloward, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, and Garrett and Clarke each pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud.

Authorities say the men were involved in buying and selling houses at inflated prices in the posh Provo Riverbottoms area from October 2005 through March 2006. Kitchen, who was considered the ringleader, will be serving the longest sentence of the five.

Kitchen has never been licensed through the Utah Division of Real Estate, said Jennifer Bolton, spokeswoman for the Utah Department of Commerce.

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