KANAWHA COUNTY, WV (WOWK) – A Kanawha County man is facing a federal wire fraud charge following a year-long FBI investigation into an investment scheme.

According to a criminal complaint and affidavit from the United States District Court, Theodore Miller, 35, of South Charleston was arrested on Aug. 9, 2024. The FBI says Miller frequently travels abroad and was outside of the United States during much of their investigation.

The complaint states the FBI began their investigation on March 14, 2023, after receiving a complaint from the West Virginia Securities Commission that Miller was allegedly “selling unregistered securities” to the public.

The FBI says, based on publically available information, Miller is the owner and operator of several businesses registered in the Mountain State. According to the criminal complaint, those businesses include Bear Industries, LLC; Prestige Worldwide Investments, LLC; Bear Investments and Business Consulting, LLC; Blue Steel Modeling Agency, LLC; T&C Construction Services, LLC; and Stark Industries, LLC; among others.

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According to the complaint, one business in question, Bear Industries, LLC, is a “single-member limited liability company” registered in West Virginia. The business’s address is in St. Albans and Miller is its sole member. The FBI says the business is also associated with an address on Bigley Avenue in Charleston.

The complaint states that Miller “solicits and obtains” investments in specific real estate projects, known as direct investments through Bear Industries. The FBI says he allegedly solicits investments in properties to either rehabilitate or build a new structure on. The complaint says he allegedly promises his investors the return of their initial investment plus additional money once the project is completed and refinanced. The investors are also to share rental income from those properties.

According to the FBI, a victim of the alleged wire fraud saw a TikTok video in June 2022 where Miller advertised a direct investment opportunity for constructing a secure dry-storage lot on two adjacent addresses on Bigley Avenue. The victim then emailed Miller to ask about investing in the project.

The complaint states that Miller responded with a promotional investor packet and claimed the project would help create passive income and “start your journey to creating sustainable wealth.” The FBI says the information in the packet said Miller would rehabilitate a small dwelling on the property and build a dry-storage lot. The project would also include clearing, leveling and graveling the lot and installing a security system and a fence.

According to the complaint, Miller’s investor packet stated the victim would receive his initial investment back along with around a 23% return after the property was refinanced. It also stated Miller would share rental income with the victim. The FBI says the packet claimed, “the conservative ROI for Year 1 was just under 20% with a cashout at the end of Year 1 but residual passive returns in the following years.”

The complaint says the victim researched the property and found it was owned by another company. When he asked Miller about it, Miller claimed to control that company, and the victim signed an Investor Agreement and Partnership Agreement with Miller on June 30, 2022.

However, according to the FBI, Miller has “no ownership, interest in or control over” that company and never owned the pair of lots on Bigley Avenue.

According to the complaint, the victim wired Miller $20,000 from California to go toward the property on July 5, 2022. Miller allegedly agreed to repay the victim and the victim’s wife a sum of $20,000 plus 15% of the refinance before August 2, 2023. The Partnership Agreement stated the couple and Bear Industries were partners in the venture and that Bear Industries would own 85% of the equity while the couple owned 15% of the equity.

The FBI says Miller received the $20,000 into the Bear Industries bank account and then transferred $4,000 into his personal account, paid his employees and paid $5,266.64 toward a mortgage on another property and then put $9,000 into another bank account.

While there is no record of Miller ever owning the two lots the victim invested in, the FBI says Miller did enter into an owner-financing agreement to buy them on July 27, 2022, but allegedly became “delinquent on payments” by Spring 2023. The purchase was never completed, according to the complaint.

According to the FBI, Miller spoke with the victim around November 2022 and told them the project had “slipped two months” but would open in 60 days from that time. The complaint says the victim says he did not hear from Miller again after December 2022 despite reaching out to Miller multiple times.

The FBI says the victim has not received any of his investment back and on June 10, 2024, drove by the lots on Bigley Avenue himself and saw the alleged dry-storage lot was never built.

Miller is in the South Central Regional Jail with no bond, according to the West Virginia Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority.

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