Published: July 25, 2008 02:27 pm      

NEWS – New York grand jury indicts Eric Skys

A grand jury in New York has returned has returned an indictment on Eric Skys, formerly of Rockwood, who claimed to be the chairman, president and CEO of Kaiser Himmel Corporation, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York has announced.

The FBI had arrested the man of mystery at his Somerset Township home on May 15 on securities and wire fraud charges stemming from his attempt to defraud several financial institutions out of millions.

When he was arrested, federal authorities said they found 20 weapons, including a grenade launcher, in the house he rented along with the woman he called his wife, Coreen Cunningham and her daughters.

Skys portrayed himself as a multimillionaire computer genius who was developing unhackable software who gave back to the Rockwood community, though he did not follow through on his philanthropy every time. He backed out of a promise to donate $200,000 to a stadium project at Rockwood Area School District.

Skys also has been known as Eric Ashley Lemon and Eric Smith when he lived in Riverside, Calif.

The next step in the case is a pre-trial conference set for next week.