Purported Traveling Evangelist Averts Trial and Pleads Guilty to Defrauding Individuals of Over $700,000
Seventeen Individuals Defrauded in an Oil and Gas Scheme

LOUISVILLE, KY—Ernest Cadick, of Elizabethtown, Kentucky, averted a trial in United States District court this morning by entering a guilty plea to a federal indictment charging him with 17 counts of wire fraud, announced David J. Hale, United States Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky.

According to court records, from 1994 through 2008 Cadick fraudulently solicited over $718,000 from 17 separate individuals. Court documents show that Cadick represented himself not only as the owner and operator of Kingdom Oil, but as a traveling evangelist and met potential investors at church functions or through contacts with churches.

“The victims of these crimes were manipulated and their trust abused. While it is often difficult for victims of fraud to come forward, when victims do report the crimes, as here, they can help prevent others from falling prey in a similar manner,” stated United States Attorney David J. Hale.

Cadick solicited the money under the pretenses of investing the money in, among other things, oil and gas ventures and overseas business ventures. Cadick, however, did not invest the money and expended it for his personal benefit and gain. Court records show that he received over $200,000 from one investor alone. While he told this investor that the money would be invested in oil and gas ventures, he expended the money for his personal benefit and gain and never repaid the investment. Further, Cadick admitted during grand jury testimony in 2006 that there was never any drilling or exploration for oil by his company after 2001.

Cadick is scheduled for sentencing in United States District Court, Louisville, before Judge John G. Heyburn II, on September 12, 2011 at 10 a.m.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Bryan R. Calhoun and Joe Ansari, and it was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.