HOLLAND (WHTC-AM/FM) — If the name Joshua Louis Rupp looked familiar when you read of his impending federal sentencing for securities fraud, you weren’t the only one.
A WHTC Facebook follower connected his name to a day of home invasions and car thefts that happened in Ottawa County on July 31, 2019, during which Rupp had been naked.
“You are correct, this is the same person,” wrote Ottawa County Sheriff’s Capt. Jake Sparks in an email responding to WHTC’s inquiry. “As I recollect, shortly after Mr. Rupp’s arrest for our Burglary charges, numerous Fraud case started coming in as investors began reporting that their money, invested with Rupp, had been lost.”
Some of the investors knew each other, and as word spread of the missing money they’d invested with him, police began getting reports alleging fraud, Sparks noted.
Others contacted police after seeing the home-invasion story, which included Rupp’s mugshot, and recognizing him as the man they’d given thousands of dollars for investment purposes, Sparks wrote.
“These cases were linked and worked by one of our Detectives assigned to our Financial Crimes Unit,” Sparks wrote. “(Rupp) cooperated with Detectives from the Grand Haven Department of Public Safety, who also had an investigation into Rupp from a case that was reported about the same time. Ultimately, the Fraud cases were turned over to the FBI for further investigation and criminal charges.”
Rupp, now 37, pleaded no contest to two counts of first-degree home invasion and one count of felonious assault and was sentenced on Aug. 10, 2020. He’s serving concurrent sentences of at least three years each at the state’s Central Michigan Correctional Facility, according to prison records. His earliest release date, according to state records, is April 30, 2023.
The FBI continues investigating the securities fraud case, for which he’ll be sentenced next year by a federal judge. Investigators are urging his other victims to come forward, as in this case, he’s agreed to make restitution to victims. Currently, investigators have linked him to the disappearance of $2.7 million.
Victims of the fraud are urged to contact the Victim and Witness Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office at (616) 808-2034.
Case updates will be online at justice.gov/usao-wdmi/victim-and-witness-assistance-program/vw-large-cases.
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