PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Lori Sitler

Pager: (302) 247-1132

Date: September 6, 2002



Centerville Land Developer Sentenced for Securities Fraud



(Wilmington, DE): Because of a change in the theft law suggested by Attorney General M. Jane Brady, the prosecution of Richard G. "Skip" Snavely, a Centerville Land Developer, ended today with a sentence of five years in prison suspended after he serves five months of incarceration for probation. Snavely was also ordered to pay $303,000 in restitution to the 10 identified victim families. The sentence was imposed by Judge Richard R. Cooch of the Superior Court. 

Securities Commissioner James Ropp said after the sentencing, "We feel this sentence sends an important message to persons who would violate the State's securities laws and take hard earned money from Delaware investors."

Between August 1995 and February 1997, 12 Delawareans invested with Snavely through Greenville Development Corporation. Snavely's investment opportunity was a proposed real estate development project in the Newark, Delaware area called "Deerborne". According to investment brochures, Snavely, through Greenville Development Corp., agreed to a return of the investor's principle investment plus interest and a percentage of Deerborne's profits, upon settlement on the Deerborne project.

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In April 1999, an investor contacted the Division of Securities at the Attorney General's Office due to Snavely's failure to honor the investment contract after the Deerborne project settled in October 1998. An investigation was conducted by the Securities Division, which resulted in locating additional investors, and ultimately led to Snavely's arrest. He pled guilty on December 17, 2001 to charges of theft over $100,000, securities fraud over $50,000, and failure to file a Delaware tax return. 

In 1996, the Attorney General drafted and had enacted into law, changes to Delaware's theft laws which played an important part in this sentence. Prior to 1996, the presumptive sentence for this crime was probation and the maximum sentence length was 2 years. After the Attorney General's bill was enacted, the presumptive sentence for crimes of this type was changed to jail and the maximum sentence length was increased to 10 years. Importantly, the Court was given the authority to place this defendant on a lengthy period of probation thus facilitating restitution collection. Attorney General Brady stated, "I applaud the Court's 

decision today. This is reflective of our efforts to ensure that persons who violate the trust of Delaware citizens face jail time." 



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