FARGO -- A former Fargo bar owner and Moorhead high school social studies teacher is accused of defrauding an Oklahoma State University football official of $570,000.
Bradley James Stroup, former owner of The 21st Amendment bar in downtown Fargo, was arrested last week in Broomfield, Colo., on a warrant out of Payne County, Okla., for fraud charges.
The 45-year-old has been charged with defrauding OSU football operations director Jimmy Gonzales. Among money allegedly defrauded was $425,000 that was donated by Texas oilman and OSU donor Boone Pickens to a foundation for children with special needs, officials said.
Stroup, who reportedly operated Stroup Financial Network LLC in Broomfield, was released from jail Monday after posting $100,000 bond, said Payne County Undersheriff Charlie Lawson.
"He's fighting extradition to Oklahoma," Lawson said.
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Stroup could receive as much as 30 years in prison and a $15,000 fine if convicted of three counts of obtaining money by false pretense from Gonzales in alleged investment scams in 2005 and 2006.
The Moorhead School Board fired Stroup in 1999. A hearing officer upheld allegations that on more than one occasion Stroup said, "I love you" to students and that he once phoned a female student at her job and said, "I want to make out with you hard-core," or something similar.
The officer also concluded that an accusation that Stroup had grabbed a female staff member by the upper arm and shook her hard enough to leave red marks and bruises was accurate.
A current phone listing for Stroup could not be found Wednesday. A previous listing had been disconnected.
Payne County District Attorney Rob Hudson filed charges against Stroup last week following what he termed "a very thorough investigation" by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, which interviewed witnesses in Colorado, Minnesota and Texas, court records show.
Victimized in the scam was the nonprofit Mya Gonzales Foundation, started by Jimmy Gonzales and his wife, Mary. It is named after their daughter who has Down syndrome.
Stroup and Gonzales became acquainted 20 years ago when they were both coaching at the University of Wisconsin, according to an affidavit by OSBI agent Richard Brown.
Stroup is accused of having obtained $95,000 in 2005 and $50,000 in 2006 of Gonzales' money after representing to him that he was working a major deal with the Virginia Teachers Association and needed Gonzales to invest money, "when, in fact, this was a misrepresentation and the defendant kept the monies for his own use and benefit," according to two of the counts.
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Stroup is accused of having obtained $425,000 belonging to the Mya Gonzales Foundation in 2006 after Stroup "had a land deal that would make money and needed Jimmy Gonzales to invest monies owned by the Mya Gonzales Foundation, when, in fact, this was a misrepresentation and the defendant kept the monies for his own use and benefit," according to the third count.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead and the Herald are Forum Communications Co. newspapers.
