Investment Fraud Ventura County

Three Ventura County brothers were charged with stealing $2.3 million from more than 100 people who invested in their now-defunct oil and gas exploration company. The Fuentes brothers were identified as Charles E., 47, of Thousand Oaks, president of Fountain Oil & Gas Co.; James A., 42, of Westlake Village, vice president of the company, and Kenneth R., 36, of Thousand Oaks, the company's senior account manager.

A financial advisor is under investigation for allegedly bilking tens of thousands of dollars from dozens of elderly people as part of a massive investment scam involving certificates of deposit, authorities said Tuesday. Vincent Ferro, 42, allegedly received large commissions from at least 85 seniors in Ventura and Los Angeles counties whom authorities said invested more than $10 million through Ferro's Thousand Oaks firm, Capital Advisory Group.

Frank Cockrell was so angry about his pending prosecution on fraud charges that he tried to hire a group of anti-government militiamen to blow up the Ventura County Courthouse, according to testimony Wednesday in his fraud trial. What he got was an undercover agent from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. "He told me he wanted to destroy the Ventura County Courthouse, specifically the third floor, and kill as many D.A.

Sitting before a courtroom sprinkled with those he has swindled and duped, Frank Boyd Cockrell III was sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered to pay $2.3 million in restitution. "Mr. Cockrell, in its own way, the crime which you have committed is one of the most heinous I have ever come across," Ventura Superior Court Judge Vincent O'Neill said before handing down the maximum sentence permissible under the law.

Frank Boyd Cockrell II is more than a white-collar criminal who bilked investors out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, evaded taxes, and laundered money, a prosecutor said in opening statements Wednesday. He is a man who hid his assets to avoid paying child support to his ex-wife, and used duped investors' money to pay for his lavish lifestyle--including a chauffeur, a gardener, lingerie for his new wife, and a $3-million home in the Hollywood Hills, Deputy Dist. Atty. Mark Aveis said.

A Ventura insurance agent accused of swindling an elderly Ventura woman out of more than $70,000 pleaded not guilty Thursday in Superior Court to charges of burglary and grand theft. Terry J. Alderete is accused of promising to purchase an insurance annuity for $71,793.82, but placing the money in his personal account and spending it on himself, prosecutors said. He was indicted earlier this week by the county grand jury. Alderete, 55, and his attorney, Bruce R.

Olen B. Phillips, once considered the mastermind of the biggest fraud in Ventura County history, was sentenced to probation and 60 days in jail while his right-hand man received nearly eight years in prison in the same case. The sentences by Ventura County Superior Court Judge Frederick A. Jones stunned prosecutors and investors, who said Phillips deserved a prison term as long as that of his associate, Charles J. Francoeur.

He's accused of duping the ex-wife of a television screenwriter, the woman who wrote "Men Who Hate Women and the Women Who Love Them," and a former Mr. Universe. All three have been called to testify against Frank Boyd Cockrell II in a securities fraud case that reads like a bad novel. Cockrell, 49, faces 24 felony counts in the case, including tax evasion, grand theft and money laundering.

Sitting before a courtroom sprinkled with those he has swindled and duped, Frank Boyd Cockrell III was sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered to pay $2.3 million in restitution. "Mr. Cockrell, in its own way, the crime which you have committed is one of the most heinous I have ever come across," Ventura Superior Court Judge Vincent O'Neill said before handing down the maximum sentence permissible under the law.

A financial advisor is under investigation for allegedly bilking tens of thousands of dollars from dozens of elderly people as part of a massive investment scam involving certificates of deposit, authorities said Tuesday. Vincent Ferro, 42, allegedly received large commissions from at least 85 seniors in Ventura and Los Angeles counties whom authorities said invested more than $10 million through Ferro's Thousand Oaks firm, Capital Advisory Group.

Frank Cockrell was so angry about his pending prosecution on fraud charges that he tried to hire a group of anti-government militiamen to blow up the Ventura County Courthouse, according to testimony Wednesday in his fraud trial. What he got was an undercover agent from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. "He told me he wanted to destroy the Ventura County Courthouse, specifically the third floor, and kill as many D.A.

He's accused of duping the ex-wife of a television screenwriter, the woman who wrote "Men Who Hate Women and the Women Who Love Them," and a former Mr. Universe. All three have been called to testify against Frank Boyd Cockrell II in a securities fraud case that reads like a bad novel. Cockrell, 49, faces 24 felony counts in the case, including tax evasion, grand theft and money laundering.

Frank Boyd Cockrell II is more than a white-collar criminal who bilked investors out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, evaded taxes, and laundered money, a prosecutor said in opening statements Wednesday. He is a man who hid his assets to avoid paying child support to his ex-wife, and used duped investors' money to pay for his lavish lifestyle--including a chauffeur, a gardener, lingerie for his new wife, and a $3-million home in the Hollywood Hills, Deputy Dist. Atty. Mark Aveis said.

For nearly three decades, Helen Schlaepfer worked at an Oxnard bank to save enough money for a comfortable retirement in the Tennessee countryside. On the advice of a banker, she says, she invested the bulk of her life savings--$60,000--in a real estate investment plan that promised high returns but eventually yielded little more than heartache. "I was just hoping to have some nest egg so that I wouldn't be totally dependent on Social Security," said Schlaepfer, 68.

A Ventura insurance agent accused of swindling an elderly Ventura woman out of more than $70,000 pleaded not guilty Thursday in Superior Court to charges of burglary and grand theft. Terry J. Alderete is accused of promising to purchase an insurance annuity for $71,793.82, but placing the money in his personal account and spending it on himself, prosecutors said. He was indicted earlier this week by the county grand jury. Alderete, 55, and his attorney, Bruce R.

Olen B. Phillips, once considered the mastermind of the biggest fraud in Ventura County history, was sentenced to probation and 60 days in jail while his right-hand man received nearly eight years in prison in the same case. The sentences by Ventura County Superior Court Judge Frederick A. Jones stunned prosecutors and investors, who said Phillips deserved a prison term as long as that of his associate, Charles J. Francoeur.

For nearly three decades, Helen Schlaepfer worked at an Oxnard bank to save enough money for a comfortable retirement in the Tennessee countryside. On the advice of a banker, she says, she invested the bulk of her life savings--$60,000--in a real estate investment plan that promised high returns but eventually yielded little more than heartache. "I was just hoping to have some nest egg so that I wouldn't be totally dependent on Social Security," said Schlaepfer, 68.

A representative for a pension plan that lost $900,000 through an alleged massive real estate investment fraud in Ventura County told jurors Thursday that he knew the lead defendant, Olen B. Phillips, for a decade and that Phillips' real estate investment operation exuded a prosperous image.

Three Ventura County brothers were charged with stealing $2.3 million from more than 100 people who invested in their now-defunct oil and gas exploration company. The Fuentes brothers were identified as Charles E., 47, of Thousand Oaks, president of Fountain Oil & Gas Co.; James A., 42, of Westlake Village, vice president of the company, and Kenneth R., 36, of Thousand Oaks, the company's senior account manager.