The Kansas City Star - December 11, 2004

In one of the largest fraud cases ever investigated in Johnson County, a Leawood businessman is charged with bilking more than 100 victims of more than $2 million.

Michael Schaefer, who was arrested Thursday in Lincoln, Neb., is charged in Johnson County District Court with 88 felony counts, covering alleged criminal activity from 2001 until earlier this year.

The investigation began about nine months ago after several persons who had business dealings with Schaefer called the Johnson County district attorney’s fraud hot line, Guinn said. Operating businesses under the names Omnibus Inc. and Schaefer Enterprises, Schaefer, 55, sought out investors for a purported manufactured housing development in Arizona, according to prosecutors.

Each would-be investor paid Schaefer nearly $11,000 to invest in a portion of a unit of the development. Participants were promised a return on their investments, but prosecutors allege that the scheme unraveled after Schaefer began using money from new investors to pay earlier investors.

Some investors received checks from Schaefer that later were returned for insufficient funds, according to the charges. The alleged victims live across the country, but most are from the Kansas City area, Guinn said.

Read the full story by Tony Rizzo here