PORTLAND, Ore.—A Gresham, Ore., man is accused of swindling more than $400,000 from people who gave him money to invest, then spending it lavishly in less than four months on a male prostitute.

Police say Gary Sparks, 64, took the 23-year-old man on extravagant shopping sprees in Portland and Hollywood, spending $72,000 on a Mercedes convertible, $9,000 on a Rolex watch, $41,000 for a one-year lease on a West Hollywood apartment, $3,000 on a Louis Vuitton gym bag and more than $40,000 on clothes from high-end retailers. Alterations cost another $2,000.

Investigators say they don’t believe Sparks spent any of the money on himself.

Sparks, a retired schoolteacher and a parochial school principal from Ohio, divorced his wife in 2002 and lives in a rented mobile home in Gresham.

Sparks met the man in a Portland gay men’s chat room several years ago, police said.