Mr. Stone also told the woman that she was forbidden to disclose her probation status to anyone, and that if she did not comply with these terms, she could be imprisoned and lose custody of her children, prosecutors said.
To convince the victim that the probation was real, prosecutors said, Mr. Stone arranged for another person, who was not identified, to leave messages on the victim’s telephone purported to be from the “Intelligence Center” of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Mr. Stone also arranged for telephone calls between himself, the victim and this unnamed third person, who pretended to be Judge Anderson, prosecutors said.
It is not clear what relationship, if any, Mr. Stone had with the victim before November 2015. But at some point, Mr. Stone raised the prospect of their relationship turning romantic, prosecutors said. “At one point, he allegedly proposed to marry her, claiming he would then seek discharge of her probation,” prosecutors said in a statement.
Mr. Stone’s scheme was effective, prosecutors said. The victim gave him “over $800,000 in money and property,” according to the indictment. Prosecutors said property linked to Mr. Stone’s dealings with the woman included a home on Kennedy Drive in Colleyville, Texas, a 2017 Toyota Tacoma and a 2016 Mercedes CLS.
How Mr. Stone was able to carry out the scam for more than three years, and what touched off the investigation by law enforcement officials, was not immediately clear. The case was investigated by the Texas Rangers and the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Inspector General, with help from the Fort Worth Police Department, prosecutors said.
