• CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) -- Three defendants are set to stand trial in June on federal charges that they defrauded investors of more than $4 million by promoting non-existent wind farms projects in Wyoming and South Dakota.
• U.S. District Judge Scott Skavdahl of Casper has set aside three weeks for a trial starting June 3. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Cheyenne is prosecuting the case. Spokesman John Powell said the office wouldn't discuss it before trial.
• Defendants Robert Arthur Reed of Salt Lake City, Lauren Elizabeth Scott of Morgan, Utah, and Gregory Lee Doss of Burbank, Calif., are charged with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and conspiracy to launder money. Reed faces additional charges of mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering.
• Defense lawyers either declined comment or didn't respond to requests for comment.
• According to the latest in a string of federal indictments, Reed, Scott and Doss used aliases as well as the company names of Mountain State Power Group, Inc., Mountain State Power, Inc. and Sovereign Energy Partners in the scheme.
• The indictment alleges they hired phone solicitors to make cold calls to investors, telling them that the wind farms were being constructed jointly by private investors and the U.S. government. The indictment lists victims only by their initials, stating that many of them mailed in checks for $25,000 or more. Prosecutors have declined to identify victims.
• Two other defendants pleaded guilty last year to one count each of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, court records show. Defendant Joseph Richard Adams of California pleaded guilty in August. Defendant Christopher Ponish of Panorama City, Calif., pleaded guilty in October.
• Neither Adams nor Ponish has been sentenced yet. Prosecutors have stated in court papers they expect the two will testify for the government at trial for Reed, Scott and Doss.
• The first indictment, filed in mid-March 2012, pegged total investor losses in the wind farm scheme at $3.7 million. The figure had climbed to $4.3 million by the latest indictment, filed in July.
• Prosecutors Lisa Leschuk and Eric Heimann, both assistant U.S. attorneys in Wyoming, filed papers in December detailing what they maintain were the significant business dealings in California by Reed, Scott and Doss. The prosecutors stated they intend to present information about the California operations at the Wyoming

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