Convicted Moon con artist up to old tricks once again, U.S. probation says, and heads back to federal prison

A con man from Moon who went to federal prison for pulling a $1.5 million investment ripoff scheme is headed back there after probation officers said he’s had numerous new run-ins with the law, including taking money for contracting jobs and never doing any work.

U.S. District Judge Arthur Schwab on Wednesday imposed a term of 40 months on Ryan Blumling, 43, after a bond revocation hearing.

Schwab sent Blumling to prison in 2015 for selling bogus investments in defrauding 130 people. In a second scheme, he held himself out to be a deep-pockets loan broker able to make big loans when in truth he didn’t have any money.

After an FBI investigation, he pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court and got 63 months behind bars, a $1.5 million restitution order and three years of probation.

After his release in 2021, he was working as a Downtown valet and then as a contractor, but he’s been in trouble repeatedly in the past year for thefts, leaving the region without permission and other violations.

The most recent incident happened Monday, when Bridgeville police charged him with home improvement fraud and other offenses related to complaints from two neighbors who said they paid for work that Blumling never did.

Blumling entered into contracts in 2022 totaling $77,000 for work, including a concrete driveway, a fence, sidewalks and the like. He took $60,000 but never did any work, according to police. When the homeowners inquired about when he would start, probation officers said, he gave one excuse after another.

“The excuses included he was getting married, the ground was too wet, his dog died, a co-worker committed suicide, he and his partner broke up, another co-worker was stealing from him, he hurt himself, and he lost his wallet,” the probation office reported.

Earlier this month, the second victim told Blumling that she didn’t want to continue with him and requested her $55,000 back. Blumling had yet another excuse this time, saying he was having “truck issues.”

The probation office reported numerous other violations this year as well.

First, Blumling passed a bad $782 check in February at a steakhouse in New Philadelphia, Ohio, probation officers said, although he wasn’t charged with a crime.

In April, Peters police charged him with theft by deception after they said he entered into a contract with a customer in 2022, took $9,000 and didn’t do any work. The district attorney’s office in Washington County worked out a deal in which he would pay $5,000 to settle the case, probation officers said.

The next episode happened last month when Pittsburgh police said Blumling stole a truckload of lumber. He faces a hearing in that case next month.

In addition to the thefts, Blumling left the district several times without telling probation, heading to Ohio and Florida.

Probation officers said Blumling has been working as a contractor for more than a year but hasn’t paid toward the restitution, instead making “excuses such as it was lost in the mail, or his wife paid the wrong bill.”

Blumling also hasn’t complied with treatment requirements for mental health issues, the probation office said. The office said it has provided him with resources to use but he doesn’t show up for programs.

In his previous case, the FBI found that Blumling had tricked potential investors into believing they were investing in coal mining operations. He took their money, used some of it for himself and the rest to pay off other investors in what amounted to a Ponzi scheme.

In another fraud scheme, he said he was a broker from a rich family able to secure large loans. He charged investors an administrative fee for their transactions but never lent them any money. Instead, he used the fee money to buy things for himself, including a Range Rover.