'Ghanaian prince' jailed 20 years for fraud in USA

An Ohio man was sentenced to 20 years in prison Wednesday for pretending to be a Ghanaian prince and swindling more than a dozen victims out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

For several years, Harrison stole money from people who believed they were investing in African mining and trucking companies, prosecutors said.

Several of Harrison’s victims were congregants of the Power House of Prayer Ministries, where Harrison and his stepfather claimed they were ministers

According to prosecutors, Harrison and his stepfather used the investment money for personal expenses, including renting a house in Colorado and purchasing luxury cars.

Newman gave Harrison the maximum sentence allowed under the law – 20 years behind bars – more than the 14-year sentence prosecutors had asked for.

“Each of the Defendant’s fraud crimes were committed in a cold, calculated and premeditated fashion,” prosecutors wrote in court filings, describing Harrison as an “extremely selfcentered, self-possessed sociopath who has no respect for societal rules or norms, and further lacks any empathy or sympathy for his victims” that “intimidated and threatened his victims to establish and maintain control over them.”

Harrison’s stepfather, Robert Shelly Harrison, Jr., pleaded guilty to one felony charge in December