I've written several stories about Father Barney Canada, a convicted confidence man who took Florida developers for at least $1 million in loan application fees. One victim was Trump Tower Tampa, whose developer, SimDag Robel LLC, gave the "clergyman" $150,000 for a loan that never materialized.

Last week the federal government charged Canada, aka Byron Levon Canada, with preying on desperate developers rejected by traditional lenders. Prosecutors says Canada stole $2.7 million in an advance fee scheme based in South Bend, Ind.

Here's a copy of the December 9 indictment: Download Fatherbarneyindictment.

To give you an idea of how desperate many of these Florida developers were, Canada spent years in prison in the 1990s for just such a scheme. But a fake Roman collar hides lots of flaws. Nevertheless, developers remember being a tad confused about the religious angle when Canada introduced his tattooed, ex-stripper wife.

As the indictment said: "Canada represented himself to be a priest and dressed in cleric garb when meeting with victims in order to give the defendant's advance fee scheme an aura of legitimacy and honesty."

Trump Tower Tampa, the never-built 52-story condo project in downtown Tampa, struggled to find financing for years and turned to Canada for a $200-million loan in 2008. It never saw the money and went bankrupt.