leon coleman took payment for homes he never built.s live in upper marlboro tonight where coleman was just sentenced. >> reporter: he's going to prison for 12 years and has been ordered to pay a half million dollars in restitution to his victims. reach invested $100,000 with leon coleman to build them a new home. >> some 6 of us will never see the money but definitely spending time in jail whether make you think of what you have done for others. >> the judge felt the pain of the victims. i don't think it could have bent any better for us. >> reporter: ten maryland families thought their dream home would materialize out of these woods an undeveloped subdivision along white house road in largo and this man was their dream maker, leon coleman of district heights sentenced to a dozen years in prison, convicted on 16 counts of mortgage fraud. >> leon coleman not only sold the dreams of the victims in the case but their american way of life. >> this is a guy that stole blueprint plans from another company, took their name off and put his nam

and you violated that. >> leon coleman not only stole the american dreams of our victims in this case. but he stole their american way of life. >> reporter: still victims take some satisfaction knowing coleman won't be out of prison until 2021. >> i sxwknow i'll never see any money back. you know, i wish he could gotten a little more time, but 12 years -- and hopefully, you know, when he, you know, will come out and, you know, do right, he'll have enough time to think about what he's done. >> another participant in this massive scam, a mortgage broker, kathy ridley, was due in court this morning. she failed to show up, so the judge issued a warrant for her arrest. i'm jane watrel. back to you. >> all right. jane, thank you. >>> the heritage foundation is joining the debate over life sentences for juveniles. this fall, the supreme court will consider whether it is constitutional to sentence juveniles to life in prison without parole. the foundation held a forum on the matter today and released a special report that argues that some juveniles commit crimes so heinous they should spend t

leon coleman was convicted. he told victims they were buying dream homes in a new subdivision, but five years later, all they own is parcelses of swamp land. >>> and drivers are taking a detour on the beltway in tyson's corner this morning. that's because southbound exit 46-b closed. crews are working on hot lanes and reconfiguring the exit ramp. it will be closed at least 45 days. >>> let's get a final check of our midway traffic right now. >> good morning. we'll head over to virginia and let you know that things are quite slow at this hour. 95 northbound, earlier we showed you the road work in the hov lanes. there's a main line headed up from wood bridge, the right lane gets tapered away. so about a mile backed up traffic give or take. southbound 95 appears to be moving along pretty well. elsewhere, no concerns at the woodrow wilson bridge. the lanes are open there. american legion bridge is fine. and 270 doing all right. >>> for the first time, michael vick talks about his time in prison. and an interview tha

leon coleman will be sentenced this morning. he was found guilty in june by taking $3 million from 10 buyers. he promised to build them homes but pocketed th money. others have not gone to trial. >>> investigators are searchi for a group of men that attacked a student from george washington university. this happened on friday night. the victim was waiting for a bus. there were a lot of people around. the man suffered minor injuries. >>> police are looking for a suspect in an over not shooting. authorities say a male suffered a graze wound but he is expected to be ok. police are investigating what led up to seven people being shot on saturday. this was near a bus shelter when somebody opened fire. it may have spilled over from a nearby block party. >>> john -- prince george's police need your help. officers found a man yesterday afternoon near oak grove road. he appears to be of his batting dissent. if you have any information, you're being asked to call police. -- he appears to be of hispanic descent. >>> the vast majority of im

. >> reporter: back in 2004, they met a self-described home developer named leon coleman. the johnsons and nearly a dozen others individual lots along lighthouse road in upper marlboro with the promise of eventually building their homes. after they purchased their lots from coleman, the smooth talker never built the houses he promised and pocketed the money. he even printed someone else's plans off the internet. the law finally caught up with coleman. the scammer just received a 12- year prison sentence and he finally offered his victims an apology in court. >> i can't accept it. i can't. it doesn't do anything. >> reporter: you can understand the pain. the johnsons took out a $100,000 bank loan for the land alone. now, they are ain foreclosure on that loan, forced to declare bankruptcy. their credit and their dreams shattered. >> for the next seven to eight years, we have to literally and maybe longer we have to literally start over. >> every time i go past the development, i say man, that could have been our house. you know, i say that is the house we ain't gonna get. >>

. >> reporter: back in 2004, they met a self-described home developer named leon coleman. he sold the johnsons as well as at least a dozen others plots with a promise of building homes. but after they purchased their lots from coleman, the smooth talker never built the houses he promised and pocketed the money. even taking plans off the internet. the law finally caught up with him and he just received a 12- year prison sentence d he finally offered the victims an apology in court. >> i can't accept it. i can't. >> reporter: it doe't do anything? >> doesn't do anything. >> reporter: you can understand the pain. the johnsons took out 100 bank loan for the land alone. now they're in foreclosure on that loan. forced to declare bankruptcy. their credit and their dreams are shattered. >> for the next seven to eight years we have to literally and maybe longer, we have to literally start over. >> every time i go past the development i say hey, that could have been ours. you know i say that is the house that we were going to get. it happened to other people, and you never think it

housing scam victims hugged outside the courthouse today after a judge sentenced leon coleman to 12 years in jail. coleman and his wife are charged with violating construction contracts withome buyers. prosecutors say they took more than $1 million and never built any houses. the judge ordered coleman to pay nearly $1,000 to each of his five victims. >>> still to come tonight -- facing a ditch on facebook. some are returning to the social networking site when everything else fails. >>> and a shoplifter that didn't dy k >>> i just wasn't feeling good at all. >> he decided to quit at age 47 anknew he would need support from his friends and a lot of it. try about 500 friends. >> good job, mike. almost two weeks. you got her beat. keep up the good work. i have got 500 people following me on facebook, and i'm just going to put it out there that i'm going to quit smoking and if people have my permission to give me grief if i didn't do it. >> reporter: cove area announced on facebook he was quitting smoking. if he felt the urge for a drag, he updated his status and friends responded by telling h

victims of leon coleman's housing scam hugged outside the prince george's county courthouse yesterday. coleman and his wife were both charged with violating construction contracts with home buyers. prosecutors say they took more than $1 million and never built any of the homes they had promised. >> when he realized that he couldn't complete this job, he could have brought us all together and said, look, i'm in trouble here. we need to stop. i need to refund your money. >> seeing him taken away in handcuffs by the security guards, by the bailiffs, by the police officers, iwas just remarkable to see. >> the judge also ordered coleman to pay nearly $1,000 to each of the five victims. >> a potentially sensitive operations manual has been stolen from a ft. meade military police officer. laurel city police say someone broke into the officer's car outside the base. they say the thief took a book containing operating procedures and the names and telephone numbers of key personnel at ft. meade. a ft. meade spokesperson says none of the information in the book is secret or even restricted. >> a

his name is leon coleman. he is accused oftealing more than $3 million. >> it is money the victims say they will never get back. they did get some peace of mind today. he was sentenced to more than one decade behind bars. it could not come soon enough for those who said they have lost so much. for glenn miller, owning a home was part of the american dream. that dream turned into a nightmare when he paid thousands to a developer to build a home. he never got a house. he is now out thousands of dollars. his credit is ruined. >> it is embarrassing. you save all of your money. you try to do the right thing. >> the financial hard have also been a strain on the nine other families that contracted with coleman. each of the families got construction loans. he cashed the checks. the construction never began. >> words cannot describe what we have gone through. >> he apologized to the victims and his family. he said he never intended to do anything wrong all while maintaining his innocence. the judge sentenced him to 12

leon coleman took money from homes he said he would build and never did. he is convicted of the matter and will be in prison for 12 years. >> some of us will ver see the money, but definitely spending time in jail will make you think about what you have done to others. >> this was a guy who stole blueprint plans from another company. took their name off and put his name on. so for me it was a scam from the very beginning. >> seven of the 10 families are now in foreclosure without ever breaking ground. >>> coming up on the news edge at 11:00, away what is life like for those families? we'll look inside their homes and find out what the toll has been for them. >>> and investigators surprised, with clear surveillance video of a suspect accused of stealing a designer dresfrom saks, they didn't know if the designer was a man or woman. but they do know. fox 5 news wisdom martin has more, how did they track him down? >> reporter: as you said earlier, they captured him thanks to the video. now the accused shoplifter was dressed as a woman, identified as johnathan

authorities say it is the first time they've gone after developers. 38-year-old leon coleman was sentenced to 12 years in prison. he was convicted of running an investment sca out of his home. prosecutors say coleman took payments toward new houses to be built in the kings grant subdivision on white house road in prince georges county. but he did no work on the project. the victims lost the properties and the money that they had invested. >> he could have stopped this a long time ago. when he realized that he couldn't complete this job, he could have brought us all together and said, look, i'm in trouble here. we need to stop. i need to refund your money. >> just seeing him taken away in handcuffs by the security guards, by the bailiff, by the police officers, it was greatap words rang hollow with the judge. the judge said coleman violated one of the most important things in a person's life. >>> trouble tonight for a wrestling coach in the area's largest school system after he's charged with trying toit sicol a minor for icsex. li s ipo faxserfai countyrfystar as lyaray gabriel at his home

a judge sentenced leon coleman to 120 years and then suspended all but 12 years. in june the convt jury convicted him of felony theft charges. coleman must also pay restitution. >>> people in bear win heights, maryland hope foreclosures don't lead to more eyesore properties. they have been frustrated by an abandoned house for 56 years the mayor criticized prince georges county officials for failing to have usthe hocoe tor down in 2008 before ownership changed again causing the process to start all over. >> looks descend. it is bringing down property values. it is worse than a foreclosure because it has been sitting like that. >> now lenders own the property and they have asked for bids to tear it down. >>> if you are wondering how much cash circulates. there are traces of cocaine on 90% of paper money. they studied bills from the united states, canada, japan, brazil, and the u.s. and canada had the most contamination, japan the least. and those from the district area had 95% that tested positive. >>> a dangerous high-tech mystery as one man's electronic gadget is

leon coleman was sentenced to 12 years in prison. om developer sold nearly a dozen families individual lots along lighthouse road in upper marlboro with the promise of building their dream home but he never built the home he promised and pocketed the money instead. at least one family was forced into bankruptcy. he was convicted of 16 counts of theft and other violations. >>> coming up next t could be the strongest weapon in the fight against swine flu this fall. >>> now, those on the front lines in health care could be facing another challenge, forced to deal with fewer vaccines than they originally thought they would have.  coted making headlines this morning, one week sip the disappearance of a disabled child. they are looking for dasani campbell. his father left him in a car outside the store where his mother works. the man says he wanted to unlock the doors to make it easier for the boy to get inside. when he turned around, the little boy was gone. >>> the obama administering is apologizing for any unwanted messages in yo