Jackson Businessman Sentenced to Eight Years in Prison for Wire Fraud

JACKSON, MS—Choyes Hilterbrand a/k/a Ken Carroll, 63, of Jackson, Mississippi, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to eight years in prison and ordered to pay $268,204.79 to the victims of his federal wire fraud activities, announced U.S. Attorney Gregory K. Davis and Daniel McMullen, FBI Special Agent in Charge in Jackson. U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate also ordered Hilterbrand to serve a five year term of supervised release and awarded the United States a money judgment in the amount of $268,204.79 to be forfeited by Hilterbrand as proceeds from the crime.

Hilterbrand was the owner of Licensing MDs-U.S. Medical Licensing based in Jackson, Mississippi. Licensing MDs contracted with various doctors and medical clinics around the country to handle the administrative paperwork of acquiring and updating medical licenses for doctors. One company for whom Hilterbrand was an independent contractor was Scientific Image Center Management Inc. (SICM), a/k/a Lifestyle Lift of Troy, Michigan. Hilterbrand was hired by SICM to obtain and process the medical licenses and renewal of licenses for various doctors employed by SICM. Hilterband was given a corporate credit card from SICM, which Hilterbrand used to process his charges online as a merchant transaction via the corporate credit card processor. Once the processing was complete, Hilterbrand would receive money credited to his personal bank account. Hilterbrand was supposed to send an invoice to SICM that matched valid merchant credit card transactions. However, Hilterbrand charged amounts to the corporate credit card that were fraudulent and did not submit an invoice or, in some cases, submitted fraudulent or duplicate invoices. As a result of this fraud, SICM and two of its banks, PNC Bank and JP Morgan Bank, suffered a combined loss of $268,204.79.

After the indictment and during the period leading up to today’s sentencing hearing, Hilterbrand submitted false and fraudulent invoices to the FBI, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and the U.S. Probation Office in an attempt to justify or minimize the criminal charges against him. Hilterbrand also submitted fraudulent character letters to Judge Wingate seeking leniency in preparation for today’s sentencing hearing.

This case was investigated by agents with the FBI in Gulfport, Mississippi, and the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office. Assistant United States Attorney Mike Hurst prosecuted the case.