Last week, an appeals court overturned guilty verdicts on 10 of 13 criminal counts that Beck was convicted of last year. The First District Court of Appeals said seven of the convictions violated the statute of limitations and three did not have sufficient evidence.
Beck, also a former mayor of Mason, was found guilty in June 2015 of perjury, theft and securities-related charges. He was sentenced to four years in prison and immediately taken into custody.
Beck’s sentence for the remaining charges of theft was a year, and he had already served 16 months at Southeastern Correctional Institution in Fairfield County.
“It’s going to be the best Christmas I’ve ever had. For sure,” said Alyssa Beck, Pete Beck’s daughter. “I don’t care what they say. I know what he is and who he is.”
The Journal-News reached out to several of those involved in the case against Beck.
Tom and Tina Walter, who initiated the criminal investigation against Beck and filed a civil lawsuit, could not be reached for comment. Their attorney, J. Thomas Hodges, declined to comment.
West Chester Twp.-based businessman Chip DeMois, who briefly served as a business consultant for Christopher Technologies and testified against Beck, pleaded no contest but found guilty in March 2015 to a securities violation.
“The wounds inflicted by the false accusations against me have not healed. I have nothing to say about Peter Beck,” he said when reached Thursday.
As stipulations of his release, Beck may not contact investors involved in Christopher Technologies and he must surrender his passport.
“It’s certainly exciting to get the win from the court of appeals and just basically within a week to get (Beck) out of jail,” Pierre Bergeron, Beck’s appeals attorney, said. “A lot of times the legal process takes an eternity to see results.”
WCPO, a news partner of the Journal-News, contributed to this report.
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