ST. CLOUD -- The owner of Avon Marine has pleaded guilty to felony theft and theft-by swindle charges after he stole a customer's boat motor and sold it to another customer.

Fifty-four-year-old Randy Pierson still faces more than a dozen theft charges after allegedly swindling customers out of thousands of dollars in cash and property at his marine business.

The guilty pleas stem from an incident in 2015 where two employees alerted police that Pierson had stolen a pontoon motor from a customer before putting that boat in storage and then installed it on another customer's boat who believed he was buying a new one.  Pierson was to sell that customer's old motor on consignment and have a new one shipped from Texas. Court records show the employees say Pierson sold the old motor and never told the customer. Pierson also said the new one was being shipped, but instead made the switch from another customer's pontoon.

Pierson faces several similar charges with other customers including selling used motors as new, selling existing customers' boats and motors without consent and taking payments but failing to deliver boats, motors and dock lifts.

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