Financial Adviser

A mortgage broker and financial adviser in Annapolis has been charged with taking more than $2.3 million of his clients' money and playing the stock market with it, according to filings by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission and U. S. Attorney's Office. David W. Wehrs, 54, the owner of Maryland Title and Escrow Co., was charged this month in U. S. District Court in Baltimore in connection with a scheme to defraud investors and financial institutions of approximately $2.3 million.

Could "The Bachelorette" go for a Bawlamer boy? Could be... When the ABC show has its season premiere Monday, May 27, one of the contenders for the hand of bachelorette Desiree Hartsock will be introduced as Brian, a 29-year-old financial adviser from Baltimore. Brian is, in fact, Brian Jarosinski, a financial services representative for Gateway Capital Financial, an office of MetLife (although the website misspells Brian's name as "Jaronsinski," it's him). According to his bio on ABC.com, Jarosinski was born in Olney; is 6'-2", wears size 13 shoes and has no tattoos; lists his three favorite movies as "The Rock," "'The Notebook" and "The Count of Monte Cristo"; and professes to be "very neat.

A federal grand jury indicted a Baltimore financial adviser Tuesday for mail fraud in an alleged scheme to defraud vulnerable clients including an 85-year-old with dementia of more than $838,500, according to the U.S. attorney for the District of Maryland. Federal prosecutors say Ralph Edward Thomas Jr., 52, was vice president of a Harbor Bank subsidiary in late 2001 when he convinced a woman who was a trustee of her injured daughter's $3 million legal settlement to move the account to Harbor Bank.

A Baltimore man claiming to be a financial adviser who could produce high returns without high risk pleaded guilty Friday to mail fraud in connection with a scheme that bilked $890,000 from clients, according to federal and state prosecutors. Casey Charles, 33, faces up to 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine, prosecutors said. According to prosecutors, Charles established Infinite Equity Strategies LLC in 2007. Via direct mail and ads in newspapers and on TV, he promoted the company as a financial adviser whose clients had not lost money in the recession.

David Mrgich of Columbia isn't asking too much. All he wants is an objective financial adviser to review his modest portfolio and see whether it needs fine tuning. When Mrgich was younger, his father handled his investments. "The nice thing: I knew he had my best interests at heart," he says. Since then, Mrgich has been frustrated trying to find a trustworthy adviser outside the family. The 46-year-old state recycling coordinator earns around $74,000 a year and has built up a nest egg of about $100,000 — not enough to interest many financial professionals.

Valerie A. Schroeder, a retired financial adviser and former Parkville resident, died of lung cancer Tuesday at her home in Egg Harbor Township, N.J. She was 55. Ms. Schroeder was born in Baltimore and raised in Towson. She was a 1968 graduate of Towson High School and attended Harford Community College and Essex Community College. During the 1980s and 1990s, Ms. Schroeder worked as a financial adviser for Alex. Brown & Sons. For five years, until retiring in 2005 on a medical disability, she had been employed in a similar capacity at Edward Jones Investments.

Virginia S. Freeman, a retired office manager and financial adviser, died of lung cancer Wednesday at the Blakehurst Life Care Community in Towson, where she lived for the past four years. The former Guilford resident was 88. Born Helen Virginia Smith in Baltimore and raised in Forest Park, she graduated in 1935 from Western High School and attended Strayer Business College. She was a Glenn L. Martin Co. secretary in the 1950s and an office manager for a food brokerage for another 15 years.

Carroll's county commissioners voted 2-1 yesterday to keep their financial adviser of 13 years -- even though he has left Alex. Brown & Sons -- because he knows the county's business.The adviser, A. Samuel Ketterman, now is senior vice president nTC of A. Webster Dougherty and Co. Inc., a Philadelphia company that recently opened a Baltimore office.Alex. Brown & Sons has provided financial advice to the county for at least 20 years, but Mr. Ketterman's knowledge of county matters is crucial, Comptroller Eugene C. Curfman said.

Nathaniel duBois "Randy" Arnot Jr., a Baltimore financial adviser and volunteer, died Aug. 6 of a heart attack at his summer home in upstate New York's Thousand Islands. He was 66. Mr. Arnot was at his longtime vacation home in Wellesley Island, N.Y., when stricken. Mr. Arnot, the son of a maritime joiner and a homemaker, was born in Baltimore and raised in Roland Park. He was a 1962 graduate of St. Paul's School and earned a bachelor's degree in psychology in 1966 from the University of Denver.

Albert J. "Jay" Perry III, a financial adviser and collector of classic racing cars, died Wednesday of lung cancer at Good Samaritan Hospital. He was 62. Mr. Perry was born in Baltimore and raised in Ruxton. He was a 1966 graduate of Gilman School and earned his pre-law degree in 1970 from Emory University in Atlanta. An Air Force veteran, he earned his law degree in the early 1970s from the University of Florida Frederic G. Levin School of Law. He was a trust officer at Mercantile-Safe Deposit and Trust Co. until 1983, when he left to establish A.J. Perry & Co. Inc., a financial advisory firm in the 1000 block of St. Paul St. At the time of his death, Mr. Perry had not retired from the family-owned and -operated company.

When Stephanie Dignan left her job as a financial adviser to start her own fitness business, she had no idea she was about to change hundreds of lives. Just four months earlier, the Glenelg High School and University of Maryland graduate began teaching boot camp classes at a local gym. “I thought, 'Why not? I'll do it for fun,'” Dignan says. But that fun quickly developed into a passion -- one Dignan wanted to pursue full time. So in 2008, she launched her solo venture, The Boot Camp Girl LLC, with hopes of taking her boot camp skills and fitness ideas to clients across Howard County.

Some citizens aren't waiting to find out if the White House and Republicans in Congress will be able to reach a last-minute deal to pull the country away from the "fiscal cliff. " They are selling securities while capital gains tax rates are still low or transferring millions into trusts for the benefit of children and grandchildren before estate tax laws become more stringent. Others are getting out of the markets and parking money in less risky accounts. "Some people are going to get hit hard," said John Bacci, a financial planner in Linthicum, who has gone down his client list and run projections on what higher taxes would look like for them.

My husband and I paid our annual visit to the financial adviser who watches over our undoubtedly inadequate retirement savings, an appointment that is not unlike those with the dentist: necessary but never fun. During our meeting, I proudly listed the home maintenance projects I had undertaken as our retirement approaches - painting the interior and the exterior of the house, replacing the fence, updating the kitchen a bit and having the appliances and...

Robert S. "Barry" Skinner III, a Baltimore businessman and sports fan, died Sunday of a heart attack at his home in the Hampton neighborhood of Baltimore County. He was 54. Robert Stansbury Skinner III, who was known as "Barry," was born in Baltimore and raised in Wiltondale and later in Hampton. After graduating in 1976 from Towson High School, he attended Denison University in Granville, Ohio, for two years before transferring to Towson University, where he played lacrosse and earned a bachelor's degree in 1980.

Walt Williams isn't one to shy away from a challenge. The former NBA veteran, after all, is perhaps best known for playing under the most trying circumstances in the history of Maryland basketball. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, when the Terps were in the midst of major NCAA sanctions after the death of forward Len Bias, Williams honored his commitment to his home-state school and starred under new coach Gary Williams. It was a decision that forever endeared Walt Williams to Maryland fans, one many believe helped save the program.

Susan Fulton says about 100 clients of her Bethesda asset-management firm were "up for the risk" last month and invested a total of $1 million the day Facebook went public. "We bought it at the open, though we couldn't get confirmation on their trades," says Fulton, founder and president of FBB Capital Partners. "Nasdaq was shut down. " The stock exchange's technical problems aren't Fulton's only complaint. She's also upset over allegations that Facebook told underwriters before the initial public offering that revenues would be weaker than expected — and that this information was passed on to institutional investors but not to small investors like her clients.

A couple of years ago, Joe and Marlene Everett were 50-something empty nesters with a daughter out on her own and a son away at college. Now, thanks to the weak economy, the Everetts are once again all living under the same roof in Woodbine. It's a bit of a financial strain, admits Marlene Everett, but one the couple has taken on willingly to help kids who don't yet earn enough to live on their own. "We enjoy them being here right now," the 54-year-old mother says. "This is the last time they will live at home before branching out. " More American families are finding themselves in a similar situation, according to the federal government.

A federal grand jury indicted a Baltimore financial adviser Tuesday for mail fraud in an alleged scheme to defraud vulnerable clients including an 85-year-old with dementia of more than $838,500, according to the U.S. attorney for the District of Maryland. Federal prosecutors say Ralph Edward Thomas Jr., 52, was vice president of a Harbor Bank subsidiary in late 2001 when he convinced a woman who was a trustee of her injured daughter's $3 million legal settlement to move the account to Harbor Bank.