BATAVIA — A former Methodist minister pleaded not guilty Thursday to the latest round of charges involving securities fraud.

        Gerald Lach remained Thursday night in the Clermont County Jail.

Lach

        Mr. Lach, 77, was indicted Wednesday on four new counts of selling unregistered securities and misleading investors. He still faces a 55-count indictment from August on similar charges.

        A Clermont County judge set bail at $200,000 in the new case, while increasing the previous bail to $100,000 on other charges.

        Laura Abrams, the attorney for Mr. Lach, said it was doubtful he could pay the high bail because a judge last year put control of his assets with a court-appointed receiver.

        “Making bond will be difficult,” Ms. Abrams said. “His assets are all tied up with the previous case.”

        Both sides said the two cases could be consolidated. Ms. Abrams would not discuss the substance of the case, although she said the authorities apparently have a tape recording of Mr. Lach trying to sell the stock.

        According to a document in Clermont County Common Pleas Court by the Ohio Department of Commerce, Mr. Lach tried to sell $200,000 in stock in his Midwest Regional Authority Inc. in early January.

        “He was doing the same exact thing that he was awaiting trial on,” said John Lucas, the Union Township detective who arrested Mr. Lach at his Mount Washington home Wednesday.

        In the last four years, Mr. Lach sold more than $2.3 million in unregistered stock to investors for projects that never happened, investigators said.

        Since the first indictment, police have continued to search for hundreds of thousands of dollars collected by Mr. Lach during the past four years but unaccounted for in his financial statements.

        Mr. Lach's enterprises attract ed more than 800 investors, most of them from Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. They invested about $2.3 million since early 1996, an Enquirer investigation showed in early May.

        More than two-thirds of that money — about $1.7 million — had been spent mainly on consultants and architects, with some of the money going to family members, records showed.

        Projects advocated by Mr. Lach included an outer-belt highway around the region, a high-tech monorail system and a 110-story tower for senior housing.

        But none of those developments appears close to happening, and state and local investigators closed in on Mr. Lach last spring.

        He used a variety of company names, including Midwest Regional Authority Inc., Community Concerned Citizens Inc., Storehouse Malachai 3:10 Inc. and Cincinnati Regional Initiative Inc.

        Ohio law requires those selling stock to register with regulators. Both indictments allege Mr. Lach not only sold unregistered securities but deceived investors about the purchases.

Accomplice says Byrd didn't kill
Man lying in morgue 'not art,' family says
Taft school plan gets short shrift
Family stands by accused mom
Indicted officers' pay to be withheld
'Pimpernel' star inspires
RADEL: Judge's calls for order help maintain court's solemn role
Baby waiting for heart dies
Campbell County grand jury says son abused sick mother
Cops were warned before run-in
Covington, business fight tax
Five win Building Bridges honors
Former minister pleads not guilty
Hamilton won't close fire station
Kenton attorney expected to make switch to GOP today
Kenton Democrats rally
Kits help science learning
Lindner helps Hughes campaign
Lucas sits pretty as Blue Dog
Museum comes to school
Officers escape shotgun scare
Ohio voting systems debated
Trash-flingers targeted
Warren gives more to seniors
Kentucky News Briefs
Tristate A.M. Report