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Christopher Wendel and his attorney Catherine Jackson speak during his Friday hearing. Wendel accepted a plea agreement and was sentenced by Judge Jonathon Hein.
CELINA - A 60-year-old Celina man that once faced over 100 years in prison for defrauding more than a dozen people out of over $1.5 million was sentenced to probation this week after accepting a negotiated plea agreement.
Christopher T. Wendel was sentenced by visiting judge Jonathon P. Hein Friday to between one and five years of community control sanctions on 15 felony crimes split across three separate criminal cases.
Mercer County Common Pleas Judge Matthew K. Fox recused himself from the case in February.
Wendel was indicted in July 2024 on 80 counts of unlawful securities practices, including second-, third-, fourth- and fifth-degree felonies; seven counts of grand theft, a fourth-degree felony; six counts of telecommunications fraud, a fourth-degree felony; and three counts of aggravated theft, a third-degree felony.
Then, in November 2024, Wendel was indicted on one count of telecommunications fraud, a second-degree felony; one count of telecommunications fraud, a third-degree felony; aggravated theft, a third-degree felony; three counts of securities fraud, a third-degree felony; two counts of securities fraud, a second-degree felony; three counts of sale of an unregistered security, a third-degree felony; two counts of sale of an unregistered security, a second-degree felony; three counts of false representation in the sale of property, a third-degree felony; two counts of false representation in the sale of property, a second-degree felony; two counts of grand theft, a fourth-degree felony; three counts of unlicensed activity, a third-degree felony; and two counts of unlicensed activity, a second-degree felony.
In these cases, Wendel solicited around 14 Ohio residents from 2019 to 2021, some of them elderly, to invest over $1.5 million in his company, Buckeye Income Fund LLC, through material misrepresentations and fraud, according to a 2024 news release from the Ohio Department of Commerce Division of Securities.
In December 2025, he was indicted for a third time on two counts of tampering with evidence, a third-degree felony; three counts of tampering with records, a third-degree felony; four counts of falsification, a first-degree misdemeanor; and one count of improper use of a certificate of title, an unclassified felony.
The more recent indictment was issued after Wendel falsified court-required financial disclosure forms issued in his other pending criminal cases, along with a vehicle title sent in to the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles.
As per his agreement with the prosecutor's office, Wendel waived prosecution by indictment Friday in his two financial cases and pleaded guilty to two bills of information that involved: five counts of false representation in the sale of securities; a fourth-degree felony; five counts of securities fraud, a fourth-degree felony; one count of unlicensed activity, a fourth-degree felony; and one count of sale of unregistered securities, a fourth-degree felony.
Also, in his third case, Wendel pleaded guilty to three counts of attempted tampering with records, a fourth-degree felony. Those charges were amended as a part of his plea.
"I never meant to hurt any of the clients," Wendel said prior to the issuance of his sentence. "I had an attorney that said everything was kosher. Obviously, that was not the case, and I apologize to all the victims."
Friday's plea agreement and subsequent sentence are contingent on Wendel paying back his victims a total restitution of $1,590,746. Prior to the hearing, he paid $34,000 of that total; he is required to hand over another $80,000 by June 12.
The state did not issue a sentence recommendation as a part of the plea. However, should Wendel fail to comply with the $80,000 payment, assistant county prosecutor Peter Galyardt said the state will ask the court to impose consecutive prison terms of up to 18 months for each offense - though "everyone intends, and hopes, that that is not a necessary recommendation," he added.
Separately, if Wendel violates any of the terms of his probation, he faces up to 54 months in prison with 172 days credit.
Prior to adjournment, Hein told Wendel that while he's taken responsibility for his actions through the plea agreement, the only real way to make the victims whole is to pay the promised restitution.
"But if the public doesn't accept it, don't expect it. The only way to get past that for you and them is to do what you promised to do with regard to restitution," he said. "I gotta coach you up, because in the future, there probably can't be a lot of tolerance if you ever don't make restitution. I don't know what that means - I'm just telling you, in this realm, the victimization is pretty broad, a million and a half bucks, right? You delivering is the only way to have a salve on that injury. And I hope that works. I don't think you made promises that you couldn't."
