Former business owners face fraud charge
Two former local business owners have entered not guilty pleas to charges they defrauded another couple in the sale of a houseboat.
The defendants, Glen and Jackie Powers, former owners of Powers Four-Lane Market, entered not guilty pleas before Circuit Court Judge Bart Stanley to charges of theft over $10,000 and hindering secured creditors. They will face a plea or assignment date Aug. 26 and have been assigned separate court-appointed attorneys. Glen Powers has been ordered to partially reimburse the public defender’s office for his defense in the form of $25 per week.
The couple was the target of a sealed indictment returned during the last meeting of the Warren County grand jury.
The basis for the felony indictment is the sale of a Jamestown houseboat in 1998 to Donnie and Loretta Williams. According to prosecutors, the Powers sold the houseboat to the Williamses, who believed they had purchased the vessel with no prior debt. For several years, there were no problems with the transaction until creditors came looking for the merchandise. It was learned by the victims at that time that the boat they had purchased still had a lien against it.
A subsequent investigation revealed the defendants had allegedly continued making payments on the boat for several years after they sold it to the Williams. However, once the Powers stopped making the payments, the creditors came to collect the houseboat which the victims believed they had purchased from the rightful owners.