Former Ridgefield resident Sheldon Harmon, who pleaded guilty in May to multiple crimes related to a 2008 refinancing of a Vancouver office building, was sentenced Wednesday to 48 months in prison.
Harmon’s sentence by U.S. District Court U.S. District Court Judge Marco Hernandez was based on Harmon’s guilty plea to charges of bank fraud, making a false statement to a bank and money laundering. Umpqua Bank says it lost $2.2 million in the refinancing deal. Harmon, who now lives in Utah, also was ordered to pay $2.7 million in restitution to Umpqua and forfeit the $1.3 million that he personally profited from through his crimes.
Lighthouse, founded by Harmon at age 24, was licensed in Oregon and Washington between 2002 and 2009 and had 11 branches. Harmon had provided false information to Umpqua that the office building at 4001 Main St. was more than 90 percent occupied when the building was largely vacant, prosecutors said at Harmon’s trial in May.
Umpqua loaned Harmon more than $3.8 million to refinance the property. Harmon then had the debt discharged in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2010, according to court documents.
