October 20, 2014

Man Sentenced to Statutory Maximum and Remanded into Custody for Defrauding Wichita Falls Couple of Their Life Savings

DALLAS—A man who admitted defrauding a couple from Wichita Falls, Texas, out of their life savings, was sentenced this morning in federal court in Wichita Falls, announced U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern District of Texas.

Paul Eugene Prewitt, 44, most recently of Phoenix, Arizona, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Reed C. O’Connor to the statutory maximum sentence of 60 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $242,250 in restitution. Judge O’Connor remanded Prewitt, who had been on bond, into federal custody. Prewitt pleaded guilty in May 2014 to a superseding information charging one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

According to documents filed in the case, from February 2009 through at least 2012, Prewitt ran a scheme to defraud an elderly couple of their retirement savings through a series of fraudulent, false and fictitious investment opportunities. Prewitt admitted making false and fraudulent representations to the couple about investment opportunities, including a condominium project in Utah that did not even exist. As a result of Prewitt’s representations, the elderly victims wired or mailed all of their retirement savings to Prewitt, who used the money for personal expenses. Prewitt admitted that he never invested the money and that he received approximately $242,250 from the victims.

The case was investigated by the FBI, Wichita Falls Resident Agency, with special assistance from the FBI’s Phoenix Division. Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Nicholas Bunch prosecuted.