Mail Fraud

In one of his TV infomercials, John Polk looks busy, the kind of busy that goes with being rich.Busy in his office, busy on his jet and busy interviewing successful subscribers to his programs -- "Inside Secrets," "Elite Performer," "Real Estate Money Machine."But it's not Polk's office. It's not Polk's jet. And, federal prosecutors said, the subscribers are not success stories of Polk's Peak Performance Institute in Hagerstown.U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz ruled Thursday that Peak Performance defrauded thousands of people of more than $10 million.

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.

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.

A second person charged in connection with a credit card skimming scheme that operated in Harford County pleaded guilty to mail fraud in U.S. District Court in Baltimore Friday. Tri Tran, also known as "Tony," 35, a citizen of Vietnam unlawfully in the country and living in Maryland, skimmed credit card account data and re-encoded onto different credit cards used to buy merchandise at retail stores, according to the statement of facts in his plea agreement that was entered into court Friday.

A former assistant vice president for M&T Bank in Baltimore has been charged with mail fraud, prosecutors said, after she defrauded a federal export credit agency and an international corporation to pay American Express bills and her taxes. Rosamaria T. Somarriba is accused of taking more than $223,000 between 2006 and 2011, according to a criminal information filed Dec. 19 in federal court for the District of Maryland. Somarriba worked in the bank's international trade finance division, according to the court filing.

Bruce C. Bereano, the Annapolis lobbyist fighting for his livelihood in court, has some reason for hope. A judge said yesterday he was inclined to toss out one of the criminal charges against Mr. Bereano and would consider dismissing the others.In a somewhat unusual move, U.S. District Court Judge William M. Nickerson said he wanted to consider overnight whether the mail fraud trial should continue. He will announce his decision today.Prosecutors in Baltimore have spent six days trying to prove that the lobbyist overcharged lobbying clients in 1990 through a scheme involving illegal campaign contributions.

Two Hyattsville men were arrested late Monday after a special surveillance unit saw two people stealing mail from a residential mailbox in Forest Hill, said Sgt. Edward Hopkins, a sheriff's spokesman.Harford County sheriff's deputies, U.S. Secret Service and U.S. Postal Service authorities, who were part of the surveillance unit, believe that the men are part of a sophisticated nationwide mail and credit card fraud ring, Sergeant Hopkins said.The suspects are being held at the Harford County Detention Center on $250,000 bond each, he said.

A father and son pleaded guilty yesterday to federal mail fraud charges for operating a Baltimore-based telemarketing scheme that preyed on churches, nursing homes and hospitals across the nation.Howard "Hank" Bloom, 30, and his father Abrian "Abe" Bloom, 55, took in hundreds of thousands of dollars by contacting more than 22,000 companies between 1989 and 1992, U.S. Attorney Lynne A. Battaglia said.The men, who live in Pikesville, made their money by overcharging customers for shipments of cleaning chemicals, light bulbs and other products, or by billing customers for unauthorized shipments, according to the prosecutor.

A federal grand jury in Baltimore has handed up a 15-count indictment charging the former head of a Frederick clothing manufacturing company with filing false income tax returns, mail fraud and making false statements when he applied for a $1.6 million loan. Benjamin J. Gilbert, 54, of Germantown is accused of defrauding Hartz and Co. by creating false invoices for $200,000 worth of goods and services that he billed to the company and gave to himself, according to the indictment announced yesterday by the U.S. Attorney's Office.

A former Western Maryland principal was found guilty in federal court yesterday of stealing more than $18,000 from her school by using false invoices and keeping money from travel reimbursements. Diane L. McFarland, 52, of Frostburg was convicted on four counts of wire and mail fraud by a U.S. District Court jury. McFarland, who was principal of Cash Valley Elementary School in LaVale, never paid back teachers at her school for costs incurred during conference trips as part of the federally funded Success for All program.

A former assistant vice president for M&T Bank in Baltimore has been charged with mail fraud, prosecutors said, after she defrauded a federal export credit agency and an international corporation to pay American Express bills and her taxes. Rosamaria T. Somarriba is accused of taking more than $223,000 between 2006 and 2011, according to a criminal information filed Dec. 19 in federal court for the District of Maryland. Somarriba worked in the bank's international trade finance division, according to the court filing.

A Reisterstown financial advisor pleaded guilty in federal court in Baltimore on Wednesday to mail fraud in connection with the theft of more than $800,000 from accounts he managed for a child suffering from cerebral palsy and for an elderly client with dementia. Ralph Edward Thomas Jr., 52, a former vice president in a subsidiary of Harbor Bank, used more than $100,000 in stolen money from the child's trust fund to buy a home, the U.S. Attorney's office said. Thomas also obtained three mortgages valued at $205,000 on the home of the child's mother, using her name without her knowledge, authorities said.

Federal agents arrested a 66-year-old Maryland man Tuesday, claiming that his life was a lie. William G. Hillar of Millersville said he is an Army Special Forces retired colonel who's traveled the world fighting terrorism and advising foreign military organizations. He claims to have a bachelor's degree in psychology, a master's in education and a doctorate in health education. And he frequently speaks out against human trafficking, claiming in marketing materials that his only daughter was kidnapped, forced into the sex industry and killed — a story that became the basis, he has said, for the 2008 film "Taken," starring Liam Neeson.

Baltimore County Councilman Ken Oliver is seeking to amend an ethics bill that some believe targets a well-known lobbyist and the president of the firefighters union. The current ethics law bars people who have been convicted of certain crimes — bribery, fraud, embezzlement, theft and forgery, among others — from doing business with the county or representing county employees. Oliver's amendment would require the bill to be "prospective," applying only to those convicted of crimes after Sept.

We come now to the defense of Bruce Bereano. The top Annapolis lobbyist is the evident target of a law proposed in Towson to prohibit convicted felons from lobbying before the Baltimore County government, the product of his effective advocacy for clients in opposition to a ban on the use of indoor tanning facilities by minors. The unstated implication of the legislation — which is sponsored by Councilman Vincent J. Gardina, who also sponsored the tanning bill — is that Mr. Bereano has continued to act unethically.

Legal rulings coming soon from the U.S. Supreme Court could cut to the heart of a federal probe into a powerful Maryland state senator and affect the years-old convictions of top state lobbyists. If the court overturns a federal mail fraud statute often used in public corruption cases, investigations under way in Maryland and across the country could be tossed, and previous convictions could be overturned. Many legal observers who watch the court closely believe that, at the very least, new limits on how the law may be used are forthcoming.

Federal agents arrested a 66-year-old Maryland man Tuesday, claiming that his life was a lie. William G. Hillar of Millersville said he is an Army Special Forces retired colonel who's traveled the world fighting terrorism and advising foreign military organizations. He claims to have a bachelor's degree in psychology, a master's in education and a doctorate in health education. And he frequently speaks out against human trafficking, claiming in marketing materials that his only daughter was kidnapped, forced into the sex industry and killed — a story that became the basis, he has said, for the 2008 film "Taken," starring Liam Neeson.

An Annapolis man and his drapery business were indicted yesterday on 14 counts of mail fraud, charged with trying to cheat the U.S. government out of more than $11 million.Jeffrey Paul Goldstein of the 800 block of Coach Way and his company, Commercial Drapery Contractors Inc., of the 1900 block of Moreland Parkway, were charged with mailing fraudulent cost and pricing data to the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), said U.S. Attorney Lynne A. Battaglia.Battaglia said that in February 1991, Goldstein and his company were awarded a series of contracts from the GSA for the sale NTC and installation of blinds, curtains, and window treatments.

Thirty years after the indictment of Maryland's sitting governor, the lead prosecutor and defense attorney in the trials of former Gov. Marvin Mandel still vehemently disagree. "The one thing that was missing was a crime," Arnold M. Weiner, Mandel's lead defense attorney, said yesterday of the prosecution. He called Mandel's prison time for a conviction later overturned on appeal "a terrible injustice." Barnet D. Skolnik, who spearheaded the case for the government, scoffed at the characterization, saying a "monstrously complex fraud was committed" by a political-machine politician elected twice to the governorship.

Federal prosecutors charged a former assistant to the president of a Baltimore construction company yesterday with failing to report a crime, a move linked to the prosecution of a former Baltimore County state senator. Little information was available about Jeanie Ashfield-Testa after prosecutors discreetly filed a criminal information against her in U.S. District Court in Baltimore. Court papers accuse Ashfield-Testa of knowing about mail fraud and failing to alert authorities to the crime.