LINCOLN, Nebraska (KLKN) – A former Kearney man who defrauded several Nebraska businesses and individuals out of a total of $819,000 will serve a nine-year prison sentence.

Jeffery Sikes, 43, was convicted of wire fraud in federal court on Tuesday.

From 2012 to 2014, he hatched numerous schemes and created complex forged documents to deceive his victims, the US Attorney’s Office said.

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His biggest fraud involved B & J Partnership, also known as Speedway Properties, a real estate developer in Lincoln.

Sikes approached Speedway Properties, claiming to be a consultant to a limited liability company called Vanguard Nebraska.

He said he wanted to rent commercial space from the company and asked Speedway for $750,000 to convert the space into a laboratory, authorities said.

Speedway agreed, but the U.S. Attorney’s Office said it was all a lie.

All documents were fake and Vanguard did not exist.

According to authorities, the company was defrauded of $507,000.

Sikes pleaded guilty to wire fraud in 2017, but fled to Alabama before his sentencing.

According to prosecutors, he lived there under the alias Kenneth Allen and was part of a group that set fire to four Walmart stores in Alabama and Mississippi.

He pleaded guilty in this case and was sentenced to 18 years in prison.

Sikes will serve that sentence before completing his prison sentence in the Nebraska case.

He was also ordered to pay $819,169.96 in restitution.