Carlsbad

San Diego Municipal Judge Frederic Link on Tuesday sentenced Lincoln Anthony Berridge, the former owner of Carlsbad-based Coastal Equity Inc., to four years in prison for his part in a securities scam that drew $733,000 from about 100 investors.

Berridge, 24, previously had pleaded guilty to three counts of securities fraud as part of a plea bargain with the district attorney’s office.

A citizen of Trinidad who grew up in Southern California, Berridge originally was charged with 24 counts of fraud in the case. He faced 16 years in prison and a $30,000 fine.

Law enforcement officials raided Berridge’s Carlsbad-based securities firm in May, but Berridge was not at the office. He remained a fugitive until Sept. 12, when he was arrested at the Vista apartment of his former fiancee.

Investors lost the estimated $733,000 to Coastal Equity, according to San Diego County Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Sullivan, a member of the San Diego Boiler Room Task Force that conducted the May raid. Berridge and other Coastal Equity employees spent all but $20,000 of the funds collected from about 100 investors. That recovered money will be divided among investors, Sullivan said.

Mary Ann Stevens, Berridge’s former fiancee, earlier had pleaded guilty to grand theft and received five years’ probation. Stevens, 33, drew $4,000 from the firm’s bank account just hours after a warrant was issued for Berridge’s arrest, Sullivan said.

Nine of Coastal Equity’s telephone sales personnel have pleaded guilty to misdemeanors. The nine former employees were placed on probation and fined, Sullivan said.