Pinellas Christian radio host who skipped court is back in custody

A Christian radio host charged with scamming dozens of Tampa Bay residents out of $6 million is in custody months after a warrant was issued for his arrest when he didn’t show up for court, records show.

A judge issued the warrant in May for the arrest of Gary Gauthier on charges of failing to appear in court before trial. Records show Gauthier was booked at the Pinellas County jail this week after being extradited from North Carolina.

Gauthier, 74, hosted a Tampa Bay area Christian radio show called “It’s God’s Money” in the early 2000s in which he persuaded listeners to invest in real estate properties he and a business partner, David Dreslin, had purchased.

Gauthier, who by that point had gone bankrupt four times, drew investors into a Ponzi scheme, prosecutors said. When the housing market collapsed, payments to investors stopped. Prosecutors said Gauthier and Dreslin scammed nearly 40 Tampa Bay residents out of $6 million.

The two were arrested in 2014 on charges of racketeering, fraud and unregistered securities.

In March, Dreslin pleaded guilty to three counts of sale of an unregistered security, three counts of selling securities as an unregistered dealer and single counts of racketeering, conspiracy to engage in a pattern of racketeering activity, organized fraud and securities fraud.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on Friday.

Gauthier was being held at the Pinellas County jail Thursday without bond. A pre-trial date has been set for Oct. 2.

Information from Times files was used in this report.