By Russ Wiles
The Republic
PHOENIX — Perpetrators of a Ponzi scheme that defrauded members of the Valley’s Mormon community have received prison terms of up to 15 years in sentencing this week.
Duane Hamblin Slade received 15 years in prison, less a credit for time already served, in connection with a real-estate loan scheme in which the perpetrators used money collected from new investors to pay earlier ones, diverted millions of dollars of cash for personal use and committed other infractions.
Guy Andrew Williams and his father, Brent F. Williams, were sentenced to terms of 12 1/2 years and 7 1/2 years, respectively. Slade and the Williamses are former Mesa residents.
A fourth defendant, Russell Laurence Sewell, received three years’ probation.
Full story: Scam artists targeting Mormons get prison terms