Former Iowa Resident Pleads Guilty to Fraud Charges

COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA—On March 12, 2013, 54-year-old Robert W. Duncan, formally a resident Thurman, Iowa, entered guilty pleas to defrauding the Social Security Administration, filing a false income tax return, and making a false statement to a financial institution.

Duncan, the former owner and auctioneer for Bob Duncan and Associates, admitted during the plea proceeding that he had defrauded the Social Security Administration of between $200,000 and $400,000 by receiving benefits he was not entitled to between 1993 and 2011. Duncan also admitted that he had caused to be filed a false 1040 tax form for tax year 2008 by under-reporting his income and that he had provided false financial documents to Treynor State Bank to obtain a $225,000 loan in 2005.

Duncan faces a potential sentence of up to 30 years in prison, $1,000,000 in fines, and five years of supervised release. Sentencing is currently set for June 11, 2013, in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

The investigation was conducted by the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement; Southwest Iowa Narcotics Task Force; the Mills County, Iowa Sheriff’s Office; the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation; the Social Security Administration-Office of the Inspector General; the Drug Enforcement Administration; and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.