Egg Harbor Township Man Who Faked Death Faces Racketeering Charges In Florida

A South Jersey man accused of faking his own death in 2015 missed the beginning of his trial on theft and conspiracy charges last week, but in a way, it wasn’t his fault. Andrew Biddle, 47, wasn’t even in the state. Instead, he was sitting in a Florida jail on racketeering charges.

Biddle and Justin Belz, also of Atlantic County, face more than 40 charges involving more than $500,000 in thefts related to a boat manufacturing company they opened in Pinellas County, Florida, according to philly.com.

In 2015, he was indicted on charges of conspiracy and theft by deception of over $75,000 in cash and property in Atlantic County.

He surrendered to police nearly seven months after he was reported missing after a boating accident near Longport the previous summer. The Coast Guard searched for 18 hours without finding him, but police said he was wanted for faking the accident a few weeks later.

After surrendering and being charged, he was released on bail. At that point, it appears he moved to Florida and opened Calypso Skiff LLC with Belz.

In Florida, they are accused of accepting money from potential buyers and never producing the boats they promised to sell them, according to ABC News. They also failed to pay rent on two of the facilities they rented while in that state.

In New Jersey, he was indicted on the following charges involving eight separate people between 2012 and 2014:

• Second degree theft by deception, for allegedly unlawfully and purposely obtaining by deception the properties, worth $75,000, of multiple victims in order to deprive the owners of their property;

• Second degree Conspiracy, for allegedly conspiring with each other to commit theft by deception, in excess of $75,000, from multiple victims;

• Two counts of passing bad checks—third degree crimes—for allegedly passing checks, knowing that the drawee would not honor them, one in the amount of $17,000, the other in the amount of $33,811.09;

• Six counts of theft by deception—third degree crimes—by allegedly purposely obtaining money or property from the victims by creating or reinforcing the impression that they would sell victims’ boats, or sell boats to victims. They allegedly said they would do this through their business, Professional Boat Sales LLC. However, they then allegedly failed to either turn over the proceeds of the sale or provide the purchased item;

• Five counts of theft by illegal retention—third degree crimes—by allegedly obtaining victims’ properties by agreeing to make specified payment or other disposition. They then allegedly dealt with the property as their own, failing to make the required payment,
• Third degree theft by unlawful taking, by allegedly taking the property of a victim in order to deprive that owner of the property; and
• Fourth degree deceptive business practices, by allegedly creating or reinforcing the false impression that Professional Boat Sales LLC was licensed to sell boats for the purpose of obtaining property or credit.

His New Jersey trial has been postponed until July.