Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Brian Tymone Auplant, 36, has been charged with engaging in a scheme to defraud after allegedly visiting numerous Butler Plaza businesses over a period of several months, claiming to be a partial owner of the land and saying the businesses owed him money.

Auplant allegedly visited the businesses between October and December of 2022, giving various stories to employees and asking for money but never asking for a specific dollar amount. Employees told a responding Gainesville Police Department officer that he sometimes said he was a partial owner of the store, an owner of Butler plaza, a subcontractor, or a distributor/vendor. None of the businesses gave him any money.

On December 28, 2022, Auplant reportedly went to the Butler management office and reportedly told an employee that he had invoices from his grandfather from the 1990s and Butler Enterprises owed him money. He reportedly mentioned Bonefish and Outback and said he owned half the land but had to reach a certain age to have access to the trust fund money.

The officer called a phone number that Auplant had given to a store employee, and the man who answered said he was Auplant. When the officer said he was investigating reports that Auplant had been identifying himself as a Butler Enterprises employee and trying to steal money from businesses, Auplant reportedly said he was trying to collect money because he “owns them” and told the officer to “check the parcel numbers.”

The officer used contact information Auplant gave to store employees, including his Florida driver’s license, to identify him and confirmed the identity with video from the Butler Enterprises office.

A sworn complaint was filed in January 2023, and a warrant for Auplant’s arrest was issued in February 2023. About a month later, Auplant was arrested in Collier County, and he remained in their jail until Judge David Kreider ordered him transported to the Alachua County Jail a few weeks ago.

Auplant has juvenile convictions between 2002 and 2005, six adult felony convictions (none violent), and six adult misdemeanor convictions (one violent); he is listed as a gang member in court documents. He was arrested in Alachua County for resisting an officer in January 2023, after the sworn complaint in this case was filed but before the arrest warrant was issued. He was released on bail but forfeited the bond when he failed to show up for a court hearing in June 2023. Judge Susan Miller-Jones set bail at $100,000 on the fraud charge and $99 for failing to appear at the hearing.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.