The Advocate and Democrat

Sweetwater con man Todd Sweet now has two sentencing hearings awaiting him in August.

Sweet was scheduled to be sentenced Monday for a conviction he received in an April trial, but that sentencing was delayed until Aug. 24 when defense attorney Bob Jolley said he hadn't been given enough time to prepare for the hearing.

On Wednesday, another jury took less than two hours to decide Sweet had stolen a truck and not borrowed it, as he claimed, before leaving it in Kentucky. The jury's official verdict found Sweet guilty of theft of more than $10,000 but less than $60,000.

Judge Carroll Ross then set sentencing for the conviction on Aug. 24.

Sweet, 36, was found guilty in April on two forgery and two criminal simulation indictments.

Sweet faces a minimum jail sentence of 20 years on each of those counts or up to 30 years on each count he was convicted on in Monroe County, but the judge could decide to run those terms concurrently.

Sweet escaped from a Michigan prison in 2007 where he was serving time for larceny.

Months later he showed up in Monroe and Loudon counties claiming he was a Las Vegas billionaire, according to authorities.

Sweet was convicted of signing two checks "Jamie Lee Turpin," just a slight alternation of his Canadian girlfriend's name, Jamie Lea Turpin.

The checks were written for $27 million and $250,000 in connection with Sweet's claim he wanted to buy a 1,100-acre dairy farm and property that included several family homes.

The jury also assessed a $25,000 fine on each of the four counts.

Last year, Sweet was convicted of weapons and other charges in Arizona where authorities say he fled after the TBI and officers here began closing in on him.

michael.thomason@advocateanddemocrat. com | 442-4575

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