Todd Lamb’s alleged criminal enterprise did not just target hopeful boat owners, but it also scammed financial institutions and other businesses, according to prosecution witnesses.
Logan County Prosecutor Eric Stewart and Assistant Prosecutor Nathan Yohey took turns questioning four witnesses during the second day of trial in the Logan County Common Pleas Court.
They continue to build their case that Lamb was not simply a failed businessman who was led astray by his ex-wife, but the mastermind of schemes to take money and assets from clients and financial institutions.
Lamb’s attorney, Griff Nowicki, for his part, continued to focus on contractual matters, Lamb’s financial woes and Karen Lamb’s role as co-owner of Screaming Eagle Powerboats which transitioned into Spectre Powerboats LLC by 2018.
He has said the case against his client should be tried as a civil matter, not as a criminal matter.
Lamb, 51, is charged with engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, a first-degree felony; theft from a person in a protected class, a first-degree felony; aggravated theft, a third-degree felony; grand theft, a third-degree felony; three counts of grand theft, fourth-degree felonies; and defrauding creditors, a fourth-degree felony.
Karen Lamb, 43, is set to stand trial on similar charges Dec. 8 and 9.
If the prosecution is successful and wins a conviction, it would be the second time in little more than a decade that Todd Lamb was found guilty of crimes related to theft of property.
In 2014, he entered a guilty plea in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio to one count of interstate transport of stolen vehicles and one count of wire fraud. He was sentenced to serve 12 months and a day in federal prison.
Federal prosecutors said Lamb led a theft ring that stole and resold heavy equipment across the country and falsified sale and refund records involving a Mack truck transaction with a Nigerian government official.
In the current case, Lamb is accused of accepting payments from several clients to build and equip high-performance powerboats but failed to deliver finished boats; using sold powerboat racing motors as collateral for a loan; and selling two excavators that he had financed through Caterpillar Financial Services.
Lamb was responsible for more than $900,000 in theft and fraud over a four-year period, prosecutors allege.
Tuesday, Dean Anderson started on the stand and recounted for the jury his interactions with Lamb.
The retired 55-year-old international financial manager and acquisitions consultant testified that he was in the market for a new powerboat in 2017 and wanted to build a Talon 22. Lamb had acquired the molds for the Talon 22 and Talon 24 and was constructing the powerboats in Bellefontaine.
Anderson was living in the Hocking Hills region at the time and the close proximity to the builder appealed to him.
He talked with Lamb and had confidence the Bellefontaine builder could deliver a finished, high-quality powerboat. By early 2018, Anderson had entered into an agreement to build the 22-foot-long boat and, acting on Lamb’s advice, purchased two Mercury Racing outboard motors for $40,000.
Within a month or two, Lamb asked Anderson if he would invest in Screaming Eagle. Anderson declined but offered to acquire the Talon molds so that he could start his own marketing and sales company.
Anderson wanted the manufacturing assets and planned to use Lamb’s facilities to build the boats.
He testified that he paid Lamb for the molds, the outboard motors and work on his boat. He also directly purchased items to finish the project, such as electronics, interior finishes, motor mount accessories and boat controls, all of which were delivered to Lamb’s shop.
Relations with Lamb started to sour by November as Anderson’s boat, now a 24-foot Talon, was not ready for the winter boat show circuit. Anderson was hoping to use the boat to market his firm’s offerings.
“It was always ‘It will be a few weeks,’” Anderson said, recounting Lamb’s responses during phone conversations and visits to the shop.
Even so, Anderson remained patient as he did not want to sever a relationship with the builder of his boat and his company’s boats. Lamb also received payment during this time to make a mold for a 26-foot Talon boat.
By June, 2019, Anderson’s patience had run out and he sent a letter to Lamb to rectify the situation within 30 days. Lamb responded with a no-contact letter from his attorney.
Assistant Prosecutor Yohey asked Anderson what he ended up with in the end.
“It got me … devastated,” he said. “Losing nearly a quarter of a million dollars is a lot to me.”
He testified that he never recovered the motors; watched as Lamb sold a boat under the Talon name without authorization; and spent more than $100,000 in attorney fees to pursue civil remedies.
Three molds for Talon boats were recovered but the 26-foot mold was never completed.
Under Nowicki’s cross, Anderson testified he would not have accepted Karen Lamb’s signature on any documents pertaining to the boat build or acquisition of boat molds.
Robert Kenney, a 50-year-old Georgia businessman, was next to testify.
He told the jury he was a partner in DR Performance, a Florida reseller of powerboats.
They reached an agreement in 2020 with Lamb to be the exclusive dealer for Spectre Powerboats.
DR would pay $100,000 per boat, finish the rigging components and then sell the boats.
As part of a $200,000 agreement, Lamb arranged for the transfer of a used Spectre boat that, according to Kenney, was everything Lamb said it would be.
“At that point, it seemed like we could trust him,” Kenney said, adding that DR started to make payments to Lamb.
DR was able to refurbish the used boat and sell it but the relationship with Lamb and Spectre produced no further return.
“We got nothing for the money we sent him,” Kenney said. “Just lies and disappointment.
“It was always, ‘Help me now, help me now’ and I’ll screw you later.”
Nowicki asked if Karen Lamb might have been acting on her own during the business relationship.
“Todd was always present and leaned on Karen,” Kenney said. “They were hand in hand.”
Kenney also recounted DR received William Phelps’ 32-foot Spectre powerboat with twin Mercury Racing outboard motors from Lamb who asked DR to finish rigging the boat.
DR was instructed to contact Phelps and arrange payment for the rigging work. Phelps refused to pay any more, telling DR he had finalized payments on the boat with Lamb and he wanted it finished.
DR contacted Lamb to pick up the boat, Kenney said. Lamb told DR to remove the outboard motors and sell the items.
Kenney said DR did as instructed to help bail out Lamb.
Brian Gehres, chief credit officer with Richwood Bank Co., testified his company loaned the Lambs and Spectre $110,944 in August, 2019. The Lambs and Spectre had a good history of repaying loans with the bank, he testified.
Four Mercury Racing outboard motors were put up as collateral.
After Lamb quit paying on the loan in January, 2023, the bank learned that Lamb sold all four motors without providing the bank with the sale proceeds.
Prosecutor Stewart noted that two of the motors were sold to Mike Evans in 2018.
The day wrapped up with Otisha Veals, a representative of Caterpillar Financial, testifying Lamb purchased two mini-excavators from an Ohio dealer and financed the purchases with the equipment maker’s financial arm.
He paid $10,227 on a $33,700 loan for one excavator and no more than $2,400 on a $45,500 loan for a second excavator.
Both were sold without Caterpillar’s knowledge, she said, and Lamb never forwarded the sales proceeds.
One excavator went to a buyer in Michigan while the other was purchased by Rabenstein Electric of West Liberty.
Caterpillar never recovered the Michigan excavator, but did reach a $25,000 agreement with Rabenstein which allowed the local company to keep the excavator.
