Opinion ID: 77683
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Count Three: Wire Fraud Against Ellen and Randy Johns

Text: 18 Count Three, the wire fraud count, charged in the operative paragraph that: 19 On or about April 24, 2000, in the Middle District of Florida and elsewhere, the defendants, Artemus E. Ward, Jr., and Jeffrey Pipher, for the purpose of executing the aforementioned conspiracy to defraud, and for obtaining money and property by means of false pretenses, representations and promises, did knowingly transmit and cause to be transmitted by means of wire communication in interstate commerce from Charlotte Harbor, Florida, to Del Mar, California, certain writings, signs, signals, and sounds, namely, a wire transfer of $45,000 from a South Trust Bank account in the name of Ellen R. Johns and Randy Johns, to a Union Bank of California account in the name of Collateral Equities Corporation. All in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1343 and 2. 20 Just like Richard Rabenstein, Randy Johns first learned about CEC from a newspaper advertisement in 1999. Johns called the number listed in the advertisement and spoke with the defendant Ward, who promised him, too, that his investments in CEC would yield an annual interest rate of 45% or a monthly interest rate of 3.75%. Johns spoke with Ward a few more times over the telephone before flying to California to meet with Ward and Pipher. During this trip, Ward and Pipher took Johns on a tour of one dealership and pointed to three others to which Ward said CEC had loaned money. Sufficiently satisfied after the trip about the prospect of investing with CEC, Johns executed a promissory note with Ward for some $75,000. He sent a check by mail to Sylvia Maguire, a third party who provided a bond for his investment. Over the next year, Randy Johns and his wife Ellen Johns made four additional investments into the scheme in the amounts of $60,000, $28,000, $10,000, and finally $45,000. 21 For the Johnses' final investment, which is the subject of Count Three, Ellen Johns sent $45,000 by wire transfer on April 24, 2000, from her bank, South Trust Bank in Charlotte Harbor, Florida, to Union Bank of California in Del Mar, California. See Gov. Ex. 6. After October 2001, CEC stopped sending interest payments. Although Mrs. Johns attempted to contact Ward about this, she received no response. 22