A former Ellsworth mortgage loan broker was found guilty of fraud and theft Wednesday by a Hancock County Superior Court, following an investment scam in which he bilked investors out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Eric Murphy Jr. was sentenced to nine years in prison, with all but five suspended, and ordered to pay $358,000 in restitution to his victims, according to a press release from Maine's Office of the Attorney General. Murphy was charged with taking approximately $450,000 from four investors between October 2006 and April 2008 and using the money for personal use rather than funding consumer mortgage loans as intended. He was found guilty on one count of securities fraud, one count of forgery and two counts of theft by deception, according to the release.

Murphy had his mortgage broker license revoked by the state in April 2009.