LaPorte Man Sentenced To 41 Months In Prison For Wire Fraud

A LaPorte man was sentenced in U.S. District Court in South Bend this week on a charge of wire fraud.

Thomas Kouttoulas, 53, was sentenced to 41 months imprisonment, restitution of $172,371.15 and two years of supervised release. He pleaded guilty in a plea agreement to the felony offense of wire fraud.

Kouttoulas has been and is the owner of a company named Thomas Gregory Publications, Inc. (TGP) which produces county plat books and maps. From at least 2007 through 2011, Kouttoulas, through TGP and its agents, knowingly sold plat books, plat maps, and advertising to a large volume of clients while knowing that they would not provide the products paid for by customers. According to the plea agreement, Kouttoulas and TGP agreed that the loss amount to their customers was between $400,000 and $700,000.

This case was the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United States Postal Service-Office of the Inspector General.