Petaluma Man Sentenced In $8M 'Wealthy Heiress' Scheme

PETALUMA, CA -- A 65-year-old man from Petaluma was sentenced Wednesday to 42 months in federal prison for conspiracy and wire fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Robert Stephens pleaded guilty in June, admitting that he'd defrauded numerous victims of at least $5.6 million between 2009 and 2015 by convincing them that a wealthy heiress needed their help paying for medical care, prosecutors said.

Victims were told that the heiress' money was tied up in some kind of secret probate case, and that in the meanwhile any money they gave to cover her medical costs would be paid back at a ratio of $1,000 to $1,
according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Stephens was indicted by a federal grand jury in December 2015.

Prosecutors said he had several accomplices, including Laurence Miles, 76, Shirley Molina, 70, Musif Shirazi, 49 and Rayan Lakshmanan, 48.

U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh found that Stephens had recruited most of the victims, and that together with his accomplices they obtained almost $8 million.

Koh ordered Stephens to serve three years of supervised release after his prison term, pay $7,901,081 in restitution and a forfeiture judgment of $5,628,765.

He's scheduled to start his sentence on Oct. 20.

By Bay City News Service

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