Pinellas Christian radio host accused of defrauding investors sentenced in court

A Christian radio show host who used his platform to lure would-be investors across Tampa Bay into his real estate ventures struck a plea deal with statewide prosecutors this month.

Gary Gauthier, the host of “It’s God’s Money,” faced a maximum of 180 years in prison for his part in what prosecutors described as a Ponzi scheme.

But Gauthier took a plea deal on Feb. 2 that brought his sentence down to five years.

“This was a great deal,” said Roger Futerman, Gauthier’s lawyer. “If we had gone to trial and lost, he would have died in prison.”

The lawyer who handled the case for the statewide prosecutor’s office referred a Tampa Bay Times reporter to a spokesperson at the Florida Attorney General’s office. Multiple calls and emails to three different spokespersons went unanswered.

Gauthier started his venture with business partner David Dreslin in 2004 before it went defunct six years later. The pair were accused of scamming nearly 40 investors out of $6 million by promising big returns on investments in real estate the pair had purchased. But when the housing bubble burst in 2008, so did their business plans.

In 2014, Gauthier and Dreslin were arrested on racketeering and other charges.

Gauthier pleaded guilty to single counts of racketeering, conspiracy to engage in a pattern of racketeering activity and security fraud, as well as six counts of sale of an unregistered security and sale of the security by an unregistered agent.

In March 2023, Dreslin pleaded guilty to three counts of sale of an unregistered security, three counts of selling securities as an unregistered dealer and single counts of racketeering, conspiracy to engage in a pattern of racketeering activity, organized fraud and securities fraud. He was sentenced to 15 years of probation, according to Florida Department of Corrections records.

Gauthier, who had bonded out of jail after the charges were initially filed, was arrested after not showing up in court last year. Futerman said Gauthier will be credited for that time served in jail after that arrest as part of his sentencing and will likely spend about three years in prison before he is released.

“We would have always wanted a deal that did not involve any jail time, but that was not possible,” Futerman said. “We tried for seven years to get that. But when Mr. Gauthier failed to appear for trial that certainly extinguished that possibility.”

Futerman said Gauthier and Dreslin’s business started out as a “legitimate company” that “went belly up.”

“The original intentions were good,” he said. “Some investors, by the way, did make money. Not many, but a few in the beginning made money before the 2008 crash.”

When the housing market collapsed, Futerman said the money stopped coming in and payments to investors stopped going out. At this point, prosecutors say money from later investors was used to pay early ones.

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Investors who fell prey to the business partners’ venture said they handed their money over to Gauthier and Dreslin because they appeared to be “trustworthy Christian financial advisers,” according to depositions. Many said they lost their life savings.

“Mr. Gauthier obviously made some mistakes,” Futerman said. “The biggest mistake — and the whole crux of the case — is that the co-defendant and him had an agreement where he was getting a 15% finder’s fee from the investors. And that was never disclosed to the investors.”

Futerman said Gauthier, now 74, struggles with cognitive issues resulting from his time served during the Vietnam War. He is diagnosed with dementia and post-traumatic stress disorder, according to his lawyer.

Gauthier would take it all back if he could, Futerman said.

“If he could go back in time to 2005, he would do things differently,” he said. “His feeling is one of reflection and regret.”