The State - News from Aug. 14, 1985

Businessman Jerome C. Gatto, who pleaded guilty to two of 48 fraud charges in a California gold mine scheme, was sentenced in Salt Lake City to eight years in federal prison. Prosecutors contended that Gatto bilked 18 investors in Utah, California and two other states out of $1.7 million by selling temporary partnerships in his Mariposa Mining Co., which he claimed owned and controlled Golden Eagle Mine near El Portal, Calif. Borrowers were promised million-dollar loans and refunds of the partnership interests, but prosecutors said Gatto did not own the mine and that it had been abandoned for many years.