Seattle – A former lawyer, who was disbarred following a 2003 fraudulent check scheme, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to five years in prison for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.

JOHN WILLIAM ALDERSON, 47, pleaded guilty in July following a three-year scheme to defraud a romantic partner and family members.

ALDERSON has a 2003 federal conviction for wire fraud and Social Security fraud, which resulted in a 41-month prison term.

According to court records, in 2014 ALDERSON met his victim through an online dating website, and falsified much of the information he told the victim about his background. He lied about his age, his educational background, his family’s wealth. He moved into his victim’s home in 2015 and started opening credit card accounts in the victim’s name. One of the charges incurred on the cards was for ALDERSON to have plastic surgery.

ALDERSON also used the identity of relatives living in Enumclaw to open an additional credit card account resulting in more than $38,000 in fraud. He admits to a total fraud loss of more than $262,000.

The judge in the case said the harm went beyond the financial impact noting “the wrecking-ball effect” of what ALDERSON did, “betraying trust, integrity, compassion and love, with greed, lies, fraud and deceit.”

ALDERSON was ordered to pay $141,482 in restitution to his victims.

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