Crime Time

Fort Worth company caught up in stock-picking robot scheme

in 2008, trading volume in the Fort Worth company Teletouch Communications exploded, after a stock-picking robot supposedly identified the penny stock as poised to double in price, the Los Angeles Times reported. Over two days, trading volume went from an average of 2,300 shares a day to 593,900, and the stock price zoomed up from 13 cents a share to 45 cents. Turns out, though, that the robot, named Mari, was not really endowed with some special ability to pick stocks. Instead, twin teenage brothers in Britain were calling the shots, based on payments from stock promoters, according to the SEC. The federal agency is now suing the twins, Alexander and Thomas Hunter.  On one occasion, the SEC says, Alexander Hunter purchased 22,000 shares of Teletouch Communications at 16 cents a share before touting the stock to investors. Fourteen minutes after sending out the picks, Hunter began selling his shares at up to 51 cents per share. The lawsuit does not implicate Teletouch, a wireless company that has more than 125 employees. - Lois Norder

 

 

Denton dad pleads guilty to fraud in case of missing boys

Edward and Linda Bryant moved from Colorado to North Texas in 2005, after two young brothers the couple adopted mysteriously disappeared. Last year, the pair was arrested for welfare fraud, accused of concealing the boys' disappearance to continue to collect welfare checks. Both have now pleaded guilty to fraud charges, a Colorado Springs newspaper reports. The couple has not been accused in the boys' disappearance, but authorities in Colorado are using cadaver dogs near the couple's former Colorado home, it reported.  Texas authorities reportedly have been cooperating in the investigation, and five other children the couple adopted, including another brother of the missing boys, were placed in the custody of Texas Child Protective Services. At the time of their arrests, Edward Bryant was working in Denton; Linda Bryant was in Lake Kiowa. Anyone with information about the case can call the Colorado sheriff's office at 719-390-5555 - Lois Norder

Watauga, Fort Worth residents accused in $10 million scam

Federal prosecutors say that 10 people across the country, including two from Fort Worth and one from Watauga, ripped off more than $10 million in a mortgage loan conspiracy, money laundering and other crimes, Courthouse News Service reports.  Accused are Leticia Miffleton, 45, of Watauga; Sharlo Burris, 38, of Fort Worth, and Catheriine Wheeler, 40 of Fort Worth, as well as defendants from California, West Virginia and New York. They are to be arraigned Thursday in California on mail and wire fraud and money laundering charges. Authorities say the scheme was run through two California companies, Advanced Partnership Properties and BYW Construction. The FBI office in Fort Worth took part in the investigation, the Justice Department said in a news release. -- Lois Norder

Metroplex man pleads guilty to role in $2.9 billion mortgage fraud scheme

A Carrollton man who was CFO of one of the nation's largest mortgage lenders has pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit bank and wire fraud, the Justice Department has announced. Delton de Armas, formerly CFO of Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage, faces 10 years in federal prison when he is sentenced in June. The scheme involved a subsidiary company, Ocala Funding. De Armas admitted to conspiring with others to cheat banks that had invested in the company. He also admitted that he knew falsified financial statements were sent to Ginnie Mae and Freddie Mac, and that a letter with false information was sent to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. TB&W was one of the largest lenders to collapse in the mortgage industry meltdown, the Chicago Tribune reports. The 41-year-old de Armas could have halted the fraud had he spoken up, prosecutors said. - Lois Norder

Dallas doctor accused of $375 million fraud

Dr. Jacques Roy and five owners of home health agencies have been arrested and accused of a nearly $375 million Medicare fraud scheme, federal officials said today in Dallas. The feds also said they were suspending 78 home health agencies associated with Roy based on credible allegations of fraud. The scam, they said, was to recruit thousands of patients for unnecessary home visits and medical services billed to Medicare. He got nabbed, they say, after federal officials noticed a huge spike in the number of patients he certified for home health care. State medical board records show that the 54-year-old had his medical license suspended for 30 days and was put on 5 years probation because he had a sexual relationship with a patient, that he improperly prescribed controlled substances, including hydrocodone, to that patient, and that the patient died in a car wreck that was tied to elevated blood levels of hydrocodone. The medical board loosened restrictions on Roy in 2004 and in August 2005 released him from the order. The Justice Department Tuesday said that Roy's Medicare scheme apparently began in 2006. The scheme was the largest home health care fraud ever committed, they said. - Lois Norder

Give him the chair: Texan ripped off government for unneeded wheelchairs, leg braces

A Texas man ripped off millions from Medicare, including billing the government for leg braces for a man who had his legs amputated, according to the Justice Department.

To add to the mockery, the man never received the braces.

Edmund Nwaudobi, 48, of Sugar Land, was convicted earlier this month on one count of conspiracy to defraud Medicare, two counts of health care fraud, and one count of aggravated identity theft. Companies he was associated with billed more than $2.9 million in Medicare claims for 397 beneficiaries living in Missouri and Kansas, and received more than $1.5 million from those claims.

Among other evidence, Nwaudobi used doctors’ identities without their permission to make fraudulent claims to Medicare.

During trial, federal prosecutors presented evidence that from 2004 to 2009 Nwaudobi conspired with co-defendants Tom Alabraba, Iyaye Ishmael, and George Tasie to fraudulently bill Medicare for power wheelchairs and other medical devices, such as leg and body braces. Nwaudobi conducted business on behalf of Good Care, Inc., an Overland Park, Kan., company that supplied durable medical equipment such as orthotics.

Nwaudobi faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000 on the conspiracy count, a maximum penalty of 20 years and a fine up to $250,000 on each of the health care fraud counts, and a mandatory two years consecutive to any other sentence and a fine up to $250,000 on the identity theft count. 

-- Darren Barbee

 

Dallas man headed to family reunion in prison

Lionel Alexander, president of American Family Mortgage, recruited straw borrowers for 48 properties in the DFW area as part of a fraud scheme, prosecutors say. As part of the scheme, Alexander falsified loan applications for properties on Woodacre Road and Creek Meadow Drive in Fort Worth. Helping him in the scheme was his nephew, Blake Alexander, of Louisiana. Both men have now been sentenced after entering guilty pleas in the mortgage fraud scheme. Uncle drew a 78 month sentence, and nephew 18 months, according to prosecutors. The scheme caused a $1.3 million loss to lenders. No information is available on the Fort Worth properties in the scheme. - Lois Norder

Fort Worth man pleads guilty to bank fraud

As president of Orion Bank in Florida, Jerry J. Williams, now of Fort Worth, conspired with other bank executives and a borrower to conceal bad loans and deceive regulators about the bank's finances, according to a federal prosecutor in Florida. Williams, 51, admitted his guilt in a plea deal made public last week. He is one of the few bank presidents brought up on criminal charges related to banks that ultimately failed. Once named community banker of the year in Florida, Williams has been living in Fort Worth under bond. Other conspirators have already been sentenced to prison for their roles. One has been ordered to pay $33 million in restitution to the FDIC, another $65 million. Williams faces a maximum of 15 years in prison, according to the Bradenton (Fla.) Herald. Williams grew up in Athens, Texas, and attended the University of Texas in Austin. - Lois Norder

Wanted: Fugitive accused of stealing millions donated to help U.S. vets

A man who called himself Bobby Thompson founded the U.S. Navy Veterans Association, a charity that was supposed to provide assistance to military veterans and active service members. But Thompson - whose real name is unknown - disappeared with much of the $100 million the organization raised nationwide, according to the U.S. Marshals Service. They're asking the public's help in finding him. He used a number of aliases, including “Ronnie Brittain” and “Elmer Dosier.” The suspect is in his middle 50s to early 60s, 5’8” tall and about 160 lbs and is believed to be a heavy drinker with a volatile temper. If you have information about his identity or location, contact the U.S. Marshals Service at: 1-866-4-WANTED or text keyword WANTED and the tip to 847411(tip411). Tipsters may remain anonymous and a cash reward may be available.

Scheme cooked up by baker defrauded elderly Texas investors

Patricia Stewart persuaded investors to ante up more than $2 million to pay for her to make gluten-free and wheat-free items at her company, Whole Bakers LLC. But the 50-year-old also used investors' dough for other purposes, without telling them, including for Stewart's own benefit, federal prosecutors say. Tuesday, Stewart was sentenced to the maximum 60 months in federal prison for running the investment scheme, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Victims include an elderly Dallas woman who lost almost half a million dollars, the office says. Judge Ed Kinkeade also ordered Stewart, who has been living in the Chicago area, to pay $2,027,796 in restitution. - Lois Norder