Arlington businessman gets 40 years for bilking investors in digital marketing scheme
An Arlington businessman has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for engaging in a fraudulent digital marketing investment scheme that bilked investors, many of them elderly residents, out of millions of dollars.
Richard Gregory Tilford was sentenced Wednesday in Collin County.
Tilford also got 10 years on each of six counts of selling unregistered securities and 10 years on each of six counts of acting as a registered dealer. The sentences will be served concurrently.
A former McKinney pastor and a local radio personality also have been sentenced to prison in the case.
The scheme revolved around StaMedia, according to officials with the Texas State Securities Board. StaMedia was an internet advertising company and investors were told that the company was backed by a digital media patent valued at $85 million. Investors were promised a guaranteed 9 percent return on their investments, but StaMedia never generated any revenue and investor funds were used to pay for defendants’ personal expenses, the state board said in a news release.
Tilford was indicted on charges in Collin County in 2018.
Co-defendant Bobby Guess was sentenced to 12 years in prison for his role in the scheme. Guess, of Frisco, was an investment advisor and local radio personality and wrote, “Robbed with a Pen Again,” a book that purported to advise investors to help protect assets from fraud.
Another defendant was Timothy Lloyd Booth, of Plano, the former pastor of Way Grace Community Church in McKinney. He was convicted of theft and securities fraud in connection with the StaMedia scheme, and sentenced to 68 years.
Most of Booth’s victims were elderly people who invested large amounts of money from their retirement accounts, authorities said. Booth stole about $23 million, according to state officials.
The former pastor used their money to purchase or lease luxury automobiles such as an Aston Martin, a Lamborghini, multiple Ferraris, several Mercedes, a Land Rover, and various other automobiles for family members.
Booth and his family also used the stolen investment funds for trips to Vail, Colorado; Cancun, Mexico; Hilton Head, South Carolina; and New York City.
State officials also noted the Plano man used victims’ money for floor seats and a suite at the American Airlines Center in Dallas for Dallas Mavericks games.
