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A Pace man allegedly defrauded a businessman by offering to sell and collecting the money for a property valued at $540,000 near Perdido Key that he did not own.

Mark Puno, 39, was arrested Tuesday, charged with fraud and booked into the Escambia County Jail with a $600,000 bond.

According to his arrest report, a businessman contacted the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office on Nov. 6 to explain how Puno had tricked him out of the $540,000.

The man had known Puno for about four years before the deal and had always been on “mutually good terms” with him, the report stated.

When Puno recently approached the man with an offer to sell him a piece of property at 13900 Innerarity Point Road and build several condominiums on the land as part of the deal for $540,000, the man agreed and paid Puno the money in multiple installments.

“Once the total $540,000 was paid to Puno, (the businessman) soon realized he would not be receiving his property,” the report stated. “(The businessman) located the actual owner of the property and found that it was not Mark Puno.”

The owner of the company that owns the land informed the man “he had never met Puno before” and “did not work with him or have any current business relations with him,” the report stated.

ECSO investigators contacted the company that owns the land, reviewed bank statements and concluded that Puno had created a Facebook page titled “Titan Builders Inc.” that displayed pictures falsely “showing construction happening which never happened,” the report stated.

A warrant was written for Puno’s arrest, and county records indicated that he remained in custody as of Wednesday.