He was accused of defrauding a police chief’s family of lottery winnings. A Richland jury decided otherwise

A man accused of defrauding the widow of a former police chief of her lottery winnings was found innocent by a federal jury in Richland on Friday.

The 12-person jury deliberated for less than three hours before unanimously finding Scott K. Brett innocent of wire fraud.

Brett had pleaded guilty in the case in January 2017, but then hired a new attorney — Scott Johnson of Richland — and withdrew his plea.

Brett said in court documents that he was responsible for losing some of the lottery winnings of Donna Anderson, the widow of former Hermiston Police Chief Andy Anderson.

But he did not intended to defraud or mislead her, he said.

The Andersons won an $18.2 million jackpot in 2003. At the time, it was the third-largest prize in Oregon Megabucks history.

In 2011, three years after the former chief had died, Donna Anderson wanted to take money invested with Merrill Lynch in Kennewick to reinvest it to increase her earnings.

A friend of one of the couple’s 10 children and stepchildren recommended that she work with Brett to invest what court documents referred to as her “remaining lottery winnings.”

In February 2016, Donna Anderson had $1 million transferred by wire into an escrow account to be used as collateral as part of “a proprietary financial system,” according to court documents.

Her money was supposed to double in two weeks and then continue to double every two weeks until it reached $8 million.

But when Donna Anderson and one of her sons asked for her investment back, only about $145,000 was returned, according to court documents.

After Brett changed his plea, his attorney consulted with a forensic attorney.

Johnson argued during a trial that started Tuesday that Michael Barbee had control of $900,000 of Donna Anderson’s investment.

Court documents said Barbee was based in Texas and ran the short-term investment.

Before Brett changed attorneys, he was facing five years in prison and restitution of at least $855,000.

Brett said he was scared and confused when he pleaded guilty and thought the felony charge still could be reduced to a misdemeanor.

The Spokesman Review reported that Brett previously was the chief executive of a firm called CoreTech that sought government loans for a “green” office park that never materialized in a suburb of Nashville, Tenn.