DELAWARE, Ohio -- A public auction this morning in Delaware appeared typical on the surface, but all of the items for sale came from a Delaware County couple charged with conning friends and family out of $800,000.
Melanie and Phylip Chen are accused of falsely claiming that Phylip had cancer and needed money for medical treatment. Auction proceeds are being set aside to compensate their alleged victims.
Delaware County Sheriff Walter Davis said the Chens signed a release agreeing to give up their property.
"We don't have $800,000 worth of home furnishings here, but something is better than nothing," Davis said.
While the Chens await an August trial on felony theft charges, their dishes, their furniture, everything they owned makes its way into someone else's hands.
"Maybe it's poetic justice," said Delaware resident Bob McCoy. "They come by it dishonestly, they'll get rid of it at a cheap price."
Jessica Bowers' family knew the Chens. She said the allegedly false cancer story hurt the entire community, but she's glad to see the sheriff's office auctioning off their property to help.
"I think it's sad that someone would be so dishonest to the people that they love and care about and then go and spend all this money on. I mean, a lot of these things it just doesn't seem like you would need those," Bowers said. "It would make me feel better to purchase something knowing that it went back to the victims and not just to maybe the sheriff's office or whoever would usually be gaining from the auction."
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