DAYTON, Ohio - A man convicted of an extensive mortgage fraud scheme in Montgomery County has been sentenced to 33 months in federal prison, according to court records.

Julian Hickman, formerly of Centerville, was the second of six co-defendants to be sentenced. He pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy and three counts of willful failure to file income tax returns in December of 2008.

According to reports, Hickman admitted that he and others recruited individuals to buy residential properties, many of them dilapidated and run-down, at artificially inflated prices. The group's scheme affected 210 properties, including 205 in Montgomery County, between March of 2002 and June of 2008, netting more than $3.8 million for the six defendants.

Jessica Zbacnik was sentenced to 30 months in prison on December 3. The other four defendants - Edward and Kenneth McGhee of Dayton, Robert Mitchell of Vandalia, and Karnal Gregory of Centerville - will be sentenced later this year or in early 2010.