Mail Fraud

David Paul Hammer was a prisoner at Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester a few years ago when he bragged to a reporter for an alternative magazine that he had received at least $176,000 from 1,500 to 2,000 people he had duped into sending him money. "The trick is making them fall in love with you through letters and on the phone," Hammer told the Los Angeles-based magazine, the Advocate.

SACRAMENTO AND WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Kinde Durkee, once a go-to campaign treasurer for Democrats in California, pleaded guilty Friday to five counts of mail fraud after an FBI investigation found she stole more than $7 million in political funds from at least 50 clients, including U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein. U.S. Atty. Benjamin B. Wagner said the theft appears to be the largest embezzlement scheme ever by a campaign treasurer. He estimated that Durkee may have pilfered as much as $10 million in the last 11 years, using the funds for such routine expenses as meeting her business payroll and buying Baskin-Robbins ice cream.

SACRAMENTO - Political treasurer Kinde Durkee is expected to plead guilty to mail fraud charges and could face up to 12 years in prison for allegedly pilfering more than $7 million from at least 50 candidates and nonprofit groups, according to people close to the case. Durkee is scheduled to appear Friday in federal court in Sacramento to face five counts of mail fraud involving the misuse of campaign accounts for clients including U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). Federal prosecutors have approved a plea agreement in which they will recommend that the judge consider a sentencing range of 8 to 12 years, said people with knowledge of the deal.

SACRAMENTO — A federal judge in Sacramento has sentenced a Los Angeles tobacco distributor to 15 months in prison and ordered him to pay $880,000 to California for his participation in a scheme to defraud the state of more than $800,000 in excise taxes. Jawid Wahidi, 34, the owner of tobacco distributor LMS International, was sentenced Wednesday. He pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court on May 10 to charges of mail fraud. According to U.S. Atty. Benjamin B. Wagner, Wahidi filed statements with the California Board of Equalization that "dramatically under-reported the amount of tobacco he sold in the state.

The owner of a Hermosa Beach loan company has pleaded guilty to a felony mail fraud charge related to a scheme in which she defrauded 90 investors of about $7 million, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office said Wednesday. Mary Elaine Perkins, who owned Carlton Financial Enterprises Inc., entered into the plea agreement Monday, said Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office. Parker told investors that she would use their money to make short-term, high-interest loans to residential real estate owners who had difficulty obtaining financing.

Federal authorities arrested a chiropractor in Las Vegas and indicted him for mail fraud charges for allegedly misappropriating funds he obtained from people investing in a nonexistent "no-frills" airline, U.S. Atty. Nora Manella said. Barry Michaels, also known as Myron Blumberg, 56, is named in a 12-count indictment saying he solicited investor funds while working from an Encino office from March 1992 to April 1993 and later operating from Las Vegas.

A participant in a Ponzi scheme accused of defrauding hundreds of investors out of $3 million to $5 million was convicted in Los Angeles Federal Court on 20 counts of mail fraud. Asst. U.S. Atty. Ronald J. Nessim said Harold Mote Pruett, 47, who maintains residences both in West Hollywood and Santa Barbara County, operated the scheme between 1979-81 with his mother, Gertrude M. Pruett, who was not tried and is still a fugitive.

Former NHL union boss Alan Eagleson, charged in two countries with betraying the players he represented, agreed in Boston on Monday to a plea bargain that will keep him out of a U.S. prison so he can serve at least 18 months in Canada. Eagleson, 64, is scheduled to plead guilty today to three counts of mail fraud in U.S. District Court.

The advertisements appeared on the back pages of women's magazines and Sunday newspapers, promising such attributes as a fuller bust or a slimmer waist. The products promoted by Jack and Eileen Feather, major shareholders of Cambridge Plan International, went by such names as the Mark Eden Bust Developer, Astro-Trimmer (a waist reducer) and Slim-Skins (sauna pants that are attached to a vacuum cleaner).

A former state judge was sentenced in New Orleans to more than four years in federal prison for mail fraud in a case that alleged he took bribes from a bail bond company. Alan Green was accused of taking $20,000 in cash, golf trips and meals from the company in return for reducing the bonds of dangerous criminals to levels they could afford. That way, Bail Bonds Unlimited could collect hefty fees for guaranteeing their court appearances.

SACRAMENTO - Political treasurer Kinde Durkee is expected to plead guilty to mail fraud charges and could face up to 12 years in prison for allegedly pilfering more than $7 million from at least 50 candidates and nonprofit groups, according to people close to the case. Durkee is scheduled to appear Friday in federal court in Sacramento to face five counts of mail fraud involving the misuse of campaign accounts for clients including U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). Federal prosecutors have approved a plea agreement in which they will recommend that the judge consider a sentencing range of 8 to 12 years, said people with knowledge of the deal.

A state investigation has concluded that campaign treasurer Kinde Durkee provided clients with accounting services without a license, officials said Monday. But they have had trouble finding a prosecutor without ties to the ubiquitous political aide. Durkee is already facing a federal charge of mail fraud that includes allegations of mishandling campaign funds from a state lawmaker's account. A separate investigation by the state Board of Accountancy now has determined that she lacked a license, which board spokeswoman Lauren Hersh said would be a misdemeanor that could result in up to six months in jail and $1,000 in fines.

State banking regulators have launched an inquiry into how First California Bank handled numerous accounts controlled by Kinde Durkee, a longtime treasurer for prominent politicians who has been accused of fraud. The California Department of Financial Institutions, which oversees state-chartered banks, "will examine documents and transactions related to the accounts," said Alana Golden, a spokeswoman for the agency. She said the effort was "preliminary" fact gathering. "We are providing support to the investigation (by the FBI and Justice Department)

A Burbank accountant who has served as treasurer on hundreds of political campaigns has been jailed on a federal fraud charge that centers on her work for a state Assembly member, authorities say. Kinde Durkee was arrested Friday afternoon at the Burbank office of her firm, Durkee & Associates, and is charged with one count of mail fraud. Interviews with some of her clients suggest that the case may expand to include charges of embezzlement involving multiple victims. The prosecution's complaint against her "focuses on transactions involving the account of a single member of the Assembly, but our investigation is continuing," said Lauren Horwood, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in Sacramento.

Reporting from El Cajon, Calif. -- Sharlotte Hydorn peddles a product touted for its deadly simplicity. Inside her butterfly-decorated boxes are clear plastic bags and medical-grade tubing. A customer places the bag over his head, connects the tubing from the bag to a helium tank, turns the valve and breathes. The so-called suicide kit asphyxiates a customer within minutes. Orders come from all over the world, from people young and old, depressed and terminally ill. "People commit suicide by jumping out of windows and buildings, and hanging themselves," said the 91-year-old former elementary school science teacher.

To organic farmers, Kenneth Noel Nelson Jr. was the man with the golden manure: It was rich with Mother Nature's finest waste, robust for the soil and cheap in price. But to federal prosecutors in California, Nelson's organic fertilizer empire had developed a stench. On Thursday a federal grand jury indicted Nelson on 28 counts of mail fraud in connection with an alleged years-long scheme to dupe farmers and agriculture product distributors. The indictment accused Nelson, 57, of selling premium-priced liquid fertilizer touted as made from all-natural products such as fish meal and bird guano that instead was spiked with far cheaper synthetic chemicals.

A man who used the names and Social Security numbers of dead people to obtain phony income tax refunds has pleaded guilty to mail fraud, U.S. officials said Monday. Harold Leroy Jackson, 58, who lived in Tijuana, pleaded guilty to charges that he illegally obtained up to $70,000 in refunds through the scheme. According to a report by the U.S. attorney's office, Jackson and his son, Ryan Jackson, conspired to bilk the government.

A British citizen was sentenced to 13 years in prison for operating a scam in Southern California that swindled more than $7 million in investments from clients and diverted more than $2 million to his own use. Using disarming British charm and tall tales of an illustrious career as a European banker, Robert Tringham, 66, was able to woo investors into turning over the cash, some of which he used to pay for a Diamond Bar mansion, luxury car and...