May 20, 2016 at 2:24 p.m.
DA lowers boom on Woodruff man accused of stealing from Cassian couple
Amended information includes 45 felonies among 108 charges in 2-year-old case
DA lowers boom on Woodruff man accused of stealing from Cassian couple
Brian B. Smith has been facing criminal charges related to the alleged theft since August 2014. He was originally charged with one count of forgery, one count of identity theft for financial gain and theft of movable property over $10,000.
In late April, after plea negotiations apparently failed, Schiek amended the complaint to include 108 separate charges.
Smith now faces 27 charges of forgery, a class H felony, 60 counts of fraudulent use of a credit card, 18 counts of identity theft for financial gain, a class H felony, one count of theft of movable property over $10,000, a class G felony, and 59 counts of fraudulent use of a credit card, a class A misdemeanor. He is also charged with two counts of intentionally subjecting an individual at risk to abuse not causing bodily harm, class B misdemeanors.
Each class H felony carries up to six years in prison and a $10,000 fine. The class G felony carries up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $25,000 upon conviction. Circuit court judge Michael Bloom, who is hearing the case, can also "stack" any prison time by ordering the punishment on each count be served consecutively rather than concurrently, if Smith is convicted.
The case has been lingering since a preliminary hearing was held Aug. 27, 2014. On Oct. 3, 2014, Smith's then attorney Maggie Hogan filed a speedy trial demand, and a trial date was originally set for March 4, 2015. The trial was later rescheduled to July 22 and a final pre-trial hearing was set for July 8, 2015.
At some point between March and July, Hogan was replaced by Rick Cveykus.
At the July 8 hearing, Cveykus told Bloom he was close to a plea agreement with Schiek and asked that a plea hearing be scheduled.
On July 23, Schiek outlined the agreement he and Cveykus had negotiated that would have Smith plead guilty or no contest to the forgery charge and three counts of misdemeanor theft. In exchange for that plea, Smith would receive a deferred entry of judgment for three years. Any jail time on the misdemeanors would begin in 60 days to allow Smith time to finish making arrangements to repay the alleged victims.
Bloom expressed some discomfort with the terms of the agreement, and took Schiek and Cveykus into his chambers to further discuss the proposal. The meeting in chambers lasted just over 15 minutes and Bloom referenced what was discussed when they went back on the record in open court. He asked for information from both sides to review before he would accept the deal, although he did say it appeared both sides "were acting in good faith" during the negotiations
On Aug. 25, Cveykus announced that Smith would not be accepting the plea agreement. The case was then scheduled for a five-day jury trial on Jan. 11, 2016. Another postponement moved it to March 7.
At the March 7 hearing, Schiek again requested a jury trial and Bloom scheduled the matter for Aug. 2.
The parties were back in court April 29 at which time Bloom denied a motion by Cveykus asking that the judge recuse himself from the case. Schiek then filed the amended information and served it on Smith and Cveykus. Bloom left the matter scheduled for a three-day jury trial on Aug. 2.
When asked about the additional counts, Schiek said Smith and Cveykus had raised some questions that the original charges were overly vague.
"So each time he signed a check, every time he swiped a credit card, whatever, he was charged with it," Schiek said. "I don't know how much more specific I can be."
Smith is accused of talking the Cassian couple into opening an online stock trading account and placing $430,000 of their savings into it during the summer of 2013. Smith met the couple in the fall of 2012 when they purchased a vehicle from the Rhinelander dealership where he worked at the time. Between the time when they bought the vehicle and the spring of 2013, Smith allegedly came over to the alleged victims' home and befriended them. He even agreed to renovate home, according to the criminal complaint, although as of the date of his preliminary hearing on Aug. 27, that work had still not been completed.
At the preliminary hearing, sheriff's captain Terri Hook testified Smith talked the couple into taking loans out on two houses they owned to purchase land and build a house that Smith and his wife would either rent or buy on a land contract then later a mortgage.
He allegedly told them he couldn't get the loan himself due to credit problems.
Hook also testified that Smith eventually convinced the couple to give him access to all of their financial accounts to consolidate them in one online account where they could be handed more efficiently.
"The (alleged victims) gave him all their checking account information, all of their credit card numbers, all the passwords that he had to have to set this up," she testified.
On Nov. 19, 2013, when they signed the loan papers for the land and to build the house, two wire transfers were made into what they thought was the online stock trading account but actually was a checking account linked to that account that Smith had allegedly set up without their knowledge. On this account Smith allegedly had put his name along with that of the alleged male victim, according to the complaint.
The couple went to Florida from January to April of 2014. The husband allegedly signed three blank checks on that checking account for Smith to use in case of an emergency. After that, Smith allegedly wrote 18 more checks on that account, signing the husband's name to them since his own name was not on the checks. Hook said two checks totaling a little over $100,000 were written to a building company to start work on the new house, along with checks totaling $4,250 allegedly written to either Smith, his wife, or his son.
Smith is also alleged to have used the blank checks the husband signed.
In addition, Hook testified that Smith obtained a debit card for the checking account and withdrew over $9,000 from ATMs while the couple were in Florida.
"There's numerous withdrawals. In the beginning with $40 then it works all the way up to withdrawals of $500 a day, sometimes twice a day," Hook testified.
When they returned from Florida, Smith showed them the new house and told them he still needed $60,000 to complete. When they tried to get a loan for those funds the couple discovered their credit scores had dropped significantly, they had numerous unpaid bills, the online trading account had been depleted and their credit cards had been maxed out, the complaint states.
"By the time they began to realize what was occurring, there was no money," Hook testified the couple told her. "The money had been transferred almost down to zero."
Jamie Taylor may be reached at [email protected].
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