Wichita ? An investor in a defunct Wichita amusement park is disputing fraud charges against the former owner.

A.J. Morris and his wife Glenda, are listed as the victims in nine of 10 securities fraud counts filed against former Wild West owner Thomas Etheredge in April.

In a letter that Morris and his wife submitted last month to Sedgwick County District Judge Ben Burgess, Morris defends Etheredge, blasts Kansas securities investigators and calls his $100,000 loan to the amusement park an entrepreneurial loan among friends.

Etheredge remains in the Sedgwick County Jail on $1 million bond.

The charges stem from his efforts to raise private investment capital from early 2005 to early 2007 for his struggling theme park.