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NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) – A retired FBI agent who allegedly convinced a Granbury woman she was on “secret probation” and conned her out of roughly $800,000 has been federally charged, announced Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Prerak Shah.
William Roy Stone, Jr., 62, was indicted Tuesday on seven counts of wire fraud, one count of wire fraud conspiracy, one count of false impersonation of a federal officer, one count of engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from unlawful activity, and one count of false statements to law enforcement. He made his initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Rebecca Rutherford on Friday.
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According to the indictment, in November 2015, Stone allegedly convinced his victim, identified in court documents as C.T., that she was under “secret probation” for drug crimes in “Judge Anderson’s court in Austin, Texas.”
He allegedly told the victim that the fictious federal judge had appointed Stone and another individual to “mentor” and “supervise” C.T., and claimed that her conditions of probation mandated that she report her activities, as well as a list of her assets, to Stone. Moreover, he said, C.T. was obligated to pay any expenses Stone incurred while supervising her, and was forbidden from disclosing her probation status to anyone. If she did not comply with the terms of this probation, Stone said, she would risk imprisonment and the loss of her children.
In order to convince C.T. that the probation was real, Stone allegedly claimed that he had the ability to monitor her cell phone communications, stated he discussed C.T.’s probation with a psychiatrist, enlisted another person to leave messages on his own phone purporting to be from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration “Intelligence Center,” and even placed “spoof” calls between himself, C.T., and the fictious Judge Anderson.
He told C.T. that he had incurred significant expenses traveling to Austin to discuss C.T.’s probation with Judge Anderson, and intimidated her into reimbursing him for expenses associated with those trips. Further, he collected money he claimed was “restitution” for a wronged company, but secretly deposited the funds into his own bank account. Eventually, he convinced her to hand over large sums of money to purchase a home and cars. At one point, he allegedly proposed to marry her, claiming he would then seek discharge of her probation.
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Over the course of several years, C.T. gave Stone more than $800,000.
“Stone allegedly conned, threatened and stole from his victim, exploiting her trust in law enforcement for his own financial gain. The OIG is committed to holding accountable those who commit this type of conduct,” said Cloey C. Pierce, Special Agent in Charge of the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General Dallas Field Office.
An indictment is merely an allegation of criminal conduct, not evidence. Like all defendants, Stone is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
If convicted, he faces up to 178 years in federal prison.
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