Document text
Con man pleads guilty in sales scams By CHRIS BRISTOL An accused con artist became a convicted con artist Monday and agreed to pay more than $157,000 in restitution for bogus investments that included repeat sales of a nonexistent coffee stand. Delbert Leroy Stephens Jr., appearing before Jackson County Judge Patricia Crain, pleaded guilty to one count of racketeering and four counts of aggravated theft. In exchange, prosecutors dropped another racketeering charge and two counts of first-degree theft. He faces up to 16 months in prison. Sentencing was set for Oct. 28. Prosecutor Debbie Minder described Stephens, 41, as a once-legitimate insurance and investments counselor from the Eugene area who went bad and began using his skills to prey on investors with big money. "He is a flimflam man," she said. "This was first-class white-collar crime." From March 1998 to June, Stephens conned at least six investors from the Rogue Valley and Eugene into buying a drive-through coffee stand in Bend that didn't exist, Minder said. The investments ranged from $8,000 to $25,000. "He kept selling the same one over and over and over," Minder said, "and he always kept the money for his own personal use." The racketeering charge, a Class A felony under Oregon law, incorporates two or more theft charges whenever prosecutors can document a pattern of criminal activity. Minder said the second racketeering charge involved three purchases of property on the Oregon Coast. One of the victims bought property twice from Stephens, once for $30,000 and then again for $18,600. "He (Stephens) did invest in one property in Siletz, but he didn't put it in the victim's name and then kept the money when he sold it," Minder said. Stephens was caught after that investor, who was also one of the coffee-stand victims, became suspicious and began snooping around, Minder said. Medford police initially had trouble locating Stephens. After a news story on the case was published, detectives got several tips and found Stephens selling yachts in Portland. Stephens at one time had a securities license, but he was not licensed to sell securities or real estate when he was arrested. Authorities say it's smart to inspect a seller's license and check out the authenticity of an investment. Minder said the Stephens case reflects a move by the Medford police and the Jackson County district attorney's office to aggressively prosecute white-collar crime. Stephens remains lodged in the Jackson County jail on $505,000 bail. None of the money he stole has been recovered. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA