LAKEPORT, Calif. – A local businessman arrested last month for elder theft and related special allegations has entered not guilty pleas in the case.

Glenn Neasham, 50, of Hidden Valley Lake was in court in Lakeport for arraignment Monday, according to his attorney, Mitchell Hauptman of Lakeport.

Neasham is facing one count of theft from an elder and two special allegations, the first for taking or damaging more than $50,000 in property and the second for a theft that is alleged to have totaled more than $100,000.

Hauptman said Neasham entered not guilty pleas to the main charge and the special allegations.

Neasham was arrested Dec. 14 following the conclusion of a California Department of Insurance investigation that focused on his sale of an annuity in 2008 to an elderly female client.

Hauptman said Monday that while Neasham is alleged to have stolen funds from the woman, “There is no evidence indicating that Neasham took anything or that there was any loss.”

He added that the case “approaches a whole new level of mystification.”

Hauptman had said in an interview last month that Neasham received nothing for the transaction but his normal commission, and that the client was making money on the annuity.

Neasham is set for a preliminary hearing at 8:15 a.m. Feb. 22 in Department 3 in the Lake County Superior Court's Lakeport division, Hauptman said.

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