Retired FBI agent bilked Granbury woman of $800K in ‘secret probation’ scheme, feds say
A retired FBI agent who authorities say convinced a Granbury woman she was on “secret probation” and bilked her out of $800,000 has been indicted on several federal charges in the case.
The former agent is accused of telling the victim he had the ability to monitor her cell phone, placing “spoof” calls between himself and a fictitious judge, stating to the victim he had discussed her probation with a psychiatrist and enlisting another person to leave messages on his own phone pretending to be from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
A federal grand jury indicted William Roy Stone, 62, on Tuesday on seven counts of wire fraud, and one count each of wire fraud conspiracy, false impersonation of a federal officer, engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from unlawful activity and false statements to law enforcement.
Stone made his first court appearance Friday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Rebecca Rutherford.
If convicted, Stone faces a maximum of 178 years in prison.
Stone is charged with convincing the woman, identified as C.T. in court documents, that she was under “secret probation” for drug crimes in “Judge Anderson’s court in Austin, Texas.” This started in November 2015.
The retired FBI agent told the victim that the fictitious federal judge had appointed him and and another person to “mentor” and “supervise” her, according to federal court records. He told her that some conditions of her probation included she report her activities and her assets and that she was obligated to pay any expenses Stone incurred while supervising her.
Stone told C.T. he had incurred significant expenses traveling to Austin to discuss her case, and intimidated her to reimburse him for expenses with those trips, according to court documents.
He later collected money as “restitution,” but he deposited the money in his own account, federal agents said. He even convinced C.T. to give him large sums of money to buy a home and cars.
At one time, Stone allegedly proposed to C.T., saying he would seek to discharge her from probation if she married him.
One other condition was that C.T. was forbidden to tell anyone that she was on probation, and if she did not comply, she risked going to prison and losing her children, federal agents said in court documents.
