Collin County District Judge Suzanne Wooten sentenced to 10 years probation

Well, one thing has become obvious. A contributing factor as to why the Rogers case has been delayed 10 times in a row (maybe 11 if the February 20th trial gets delayed) is the dang-gum judge, rightly or wrongly, was indicted, convicted and is no longer a sitting judge for the 360th district court of Texas!

Here, Judge Wooten appears to be sporting a similar white bath robe as worn by the subject of this blog in his mug shot.

By now its old news..yet, here's the story from November 29th, 2011 by by Dan Eakin of Star Local News. 


District Judge Suzanne Wooten was sentenced to 10 years probation and a $10,000 fine Monday after having been convicted last week of bribery and other charges.

She also will be required to perform more than 1,000 hours of community service while on probation.
The jury arrived at 8:30 a.m. Monday, expecting to hear prosecutors the next two days arguing what sentence she should receive, and the defense arguing one day that the sentence should be less than what prosecutors would be asking.

After waiting to be brought into the courtroom, the jury was informed that, over the holidays, the state and defense had reached an agreement on the sentence and the fine.

Visiting District Judge Kerry Russell agreed to the sentence on condition that Wooten would acknowledge her guilt and waive the right to appeal. After Wooten did so, the judge signed the necessary papers for the conviction, sentence, and fine. The jury was then brought into the courtroom, given an explanation and dismissed, with the judge thanking the jurors for their service.

After hearing more than two weeks of testimony, the jury convicted Wooten last week, and the judge had set the sentencing phase to begin Monday morning. With the agreement worked out between the state and the defense, the sentencing phase became unnecessary.

Per the agreement, Wooten was sentenced to 10 years probation on each of eight charges, to run concurrently, including six counts of bribery, conspiring to engage in criminal activity and money laundering. She was sentenced to five years probation for tampering with a government record, also to run concurrently.
Following the signing of the agreement Monday, Wooten's attorney, Peter Schulte, who defended Wooten along with Toby Shook, said, "We are disappointed in the jury's verdict. However, Judge Wooten is ready to move on with her life."

The agreement also makes Wooten immediately cease her duty as the 380th District Court judge. She had been suspended, receiving full pay, while awaiting trial.

The next hurdle Wooten must overcome will likely be a hearing before the state bar on whether she should be disbarred, meaning her license would be taken away and she could no longer legally practice law in Texas.

"The disbarment is not automatic," Schulte said. "She will have the right to be heard." Should she be disbarred, Wooten could still work as a mediator, a paralegal, or in other areas related to the practice of law.

Wooten holds a law degree from St. Mary's School of Law in San Antonio.

During the lengthy trial, the state alleged that David and Stacy Cary had funneled six amounts totaling $150,000 into the checking account of James Stephen Spencer, Wooten's campaign manager, to finance Wooten's 2008 campaign as bribes to get Wooten to rule in their favor in a child-parent relations case.

Had Wooten taken the case, which she did not, she would have had to rule on whether David Cary would have been required to pay his ex-wife, Jennifer Cary, more than $400,000 in a divorce settlement.
Harry White, who with Adrienne McFarland prosecuted the Wooten case as members of the Texas Attorney General's staff, promised that he would also bring the Carys and Spencer to trial in relation to the same case.

Stacy Cary is expected to go on trial first, possibly in January. Spencer is expected to be tried next, and David Cary last.

The Level Par Scam by Kelly G. Rogers

Yep, the scam that started the down hill spiral of Kelly G. Rogers, Lawyer of Frisco Texas. On the fast track to rebuild his home, Rogers set off on a Bernie Madoff pace that caused many of Kelly G Rogers friends, acquaintances and those in his Amway down-line to lose Millions of dollars.

After all, what are friends for? 

SEC v. Global Finance & Investments, Inc. et al. Case 4:07-cv-00346

18. "Kelly G. Rogers, age 47, is a resident of Frisco, Texas and was the managing member of Level Par until July 2006, when he was forced to resign after the other Level Par members discovered he had diverted Level Par’s funds to his personal bank account. Rogers was a member of the Texas Bar Association until April 2005, when his license was suspended for failure to pay Texas’ occupational tax". (Page 5 & 6)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS
SHERMAN DIVISION, Case SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION vs. GLOBAL FINANCE & INVESTMENTS, INC.

Page 11:  Roger’s fraudulent offering:

43. In January 2006, Clark told Kelly G Rogers that Clark had invested with Global Finance and was receiving profits from Global Finance’s program. In fact, drawing from the representations in Davis’s December 20, 2005 joint venture amendment, Clark represented to Rogers that he had $100 million invested in the Global Finance investment program.

44. In February 2006, after Rogers expressed an interest in participating in Global Finance’s program, Clark introduced Kelly G Rogers to Davis. According to Rogers, Davis offered him a “totally secure” high-yield program involving the purchase and sale of bank debentures that paid monthly returns of up to 25 percent. Davis touted the fact that the funds would be safely deposited in an attorney’s trust account and would not be withdrawn until an actual transaction commenced or an instrument was purchased.

45. In February 2006, Kelly G Rogers was the managing member of Level Par and its sole contact with Global Finance. Kelly G Rogers, using Level Par as a pooling vehicle, conducted an offering, and invested the proceeds with Global Finance. Based on Davis’s representations, Rogers prepared Level Par’s offering documents, promising investors monthly returns ranging from three to 10 percent. Kelly G Rogers orally represented to Level Par investors that their principal was not at risk because it remained in an attorney’s trust account. Rogers also told investors that the funds would be used as collateral to trade in various bank debentures or mortgage backed securities. Kelly G Rogers told one investor that “the World Bank would have to collapse to lose his investment.” Rogers raised $4.7 million from approximately 35 investors and wire transferred all of it to Global Finance in February and March 2006.

46. Rogers knew that Davis’s claims were fraudulent. First, Rogers was an investor in Correll’s scheme, a similar high-yield investment program, which had ceased making promised payments. Also, Rogers was on notice that these investments were scams when he learned of the Commission’s allegations in the Correll civil action in which Robbie Gowdey, Rogers’s friend and neighbor, was charged with violations of the federal securities laws.

47. Nevertheless, on February 13, 2006, Rogers caused Level Par to enter into a joint venture agreement with Global Finance, and a trust account agreement with Dippolito, containing terms similar to Clark’s and Schliemann’s agreement with Davis.

In the end, many investors we talked with have never gotten ONE PENNY of money back from the Level Par investment. In the meantime, has Rogers curbed his fund raising activities? NO. But surely he's seen the light and now enables his investors to rake in huge profits to rebuild his reputation as a rain-maker, right?

What do you think? Maybe you should ask those who've invested with Rogers in the past years to get the answer?

In the meantime, let's all look ahead to the February trial for justice to be served.

THE TEXAS LAWYER’S CREED

Just a quick review for those who may not know the Lawyer's Creed of Texas:

I AM A LAWYER; I AM ENTRUSTED BY THE PEOPLE OF TEXAS TO PRESERVE AND IMPROVE OUR LEGAL SYSTEM. I AM LICENSED BY THE SUPREME COURT OF TEXAS. I MUST THEREFORE ABIDE BY THE TEXAS DISCIPLINARY RULES OF PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT, BUT I KNOW THAT PROFESSIONALISM REQUIRES MORE THAN MERELY AVOIDING THE VIOLATION OF LAWS AND RULES.

I AM COMMITTED TO THIS CREED FOR NO OTHER REASON THAN IT IS RIGHT.

Kelly Rogers Speaks out on YouTube!

State v Kelly G. Rogers Delayed for TENTH time!

Is this getting old or what?

For the TENTH TIME IN A ROW, since July of 2009, Judge Suzanne Wooten has allowed Kelly G Rogers and his lawyer-John Charles Hardin to delay his trial.

The new trial date (Yea, Right) is February 20th, 2012. You got it, almost SIX years after the $435,000 had disappeared from the corporate coffers, another trial date is on file and pending.  

In State of Texas v Kelly G Rogers, the State is claiming that Kelly Gordon Rogers removed $435,000 from an oil and gas company in 2006.

Fast forward to 2011 and he's still wheeling and dealing in the Oil and Gas business. In a previous story, it was disclosed by the State of Nevada that Rogers reactivated Falcon Ten Energy, LLC., to presumable conduct more oil and gas deals.

Good Grief Judge Suzanne Wooten.

Bradley Dean vs. Land and Minerals/Kelly Gordon Rogers/Carrie S. Rogers

According to the Collin County website, Bradley Dean has retained James Skinner as lead attorney in his case against Land and Minerals Corporation and Carrie Rogers.

To find this information, simply go to Collin County Courts Records Inquiry and click on "Civil and Family Case Records" and enter the case 366-00485-2010.
The Bradley Dean case is stereo-typical of a Kelly G Rogers deal.  You end up getting to know Kelly Rogers from church, the local community or a friend of a friend. You think he's sharp and impressive. One day, he contacts you with this fantastic opportunity. He has a scheme, he comes  out and pitches it and it sounds really good...so you invest.

However, over time, you begin to notice that NOTHING he promised in the original pitch is working out. You begin to ask questions and eventually it hit you up side the head--this deal is a scam. You scramble to get your money---only to find that it's long gone.

You file a lawsuit, hire expense attorney's and eventually run out of money pursuing justice. In the meantime, Kelly G Rogers represents himself or Carrie S. Rogers (often he puts an entity in his wife's name) at no cost. He simply drags out the process until you give up or run out of money. Cunning. Calculated. Crook.

Could Rogers have met his match? Possibly. According to the Collin County Court Records, Bradley Dean has retained James Skinner. Here's an impressive attorney.

Jim Skinner is a twenty-two-year law enforcement veteran who retired in June 1998 as Chief Investigator for New Mexico’s Ninth Judicial District Attorney’s Office after extensive training and accumulated years of experience in narcotics enforcement, complex white collar crime, public corruption, violent crime, and homicide investigations.

After receiving his Juris Doctorate from the University of Houston Law Center in 2001, Mr. Skinner worked as a complex civil litigator in Dallas before becoming an Assistant District Attorney and Special Prosecutor for the Collin County Criminal District Attorney’s Office.

Mr. Skinner entered the private sector in 2008, where he consulted for complex civil litigators and corporate entities on the discovery and investigation of financially motivated criminal activity.

Mr. Skinner graduated from the FBI’s Narcotics Related Financial Investigative Techniques Training Program and the DEA’s Basic Narcotics/Dangerous Drug Enforcement School and worked as the Eastern New Mexico Narcotics Task Force Coordinator, conducting undercover and counter-drug intelligence operations throughout New Mexico with local, state, and federal law enforcement partners.

Mr. Skinner is a graduate of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center’s Fraud and Financial Investigations Training Program, the Advanced White Collar Crime Training Program, the Telecommunications Fraud Training Program, MCTFT’s International Money Laundering Training, and numerous other programs related to the discovery and investigation of complex financial crime and organized criminal activity.

Mr. Skinner was featured in the August 1996 Reader’s Digest article “To Catch Three Thieves,” which detailed Mr. Skinner’s actions in bringing to justice three men who stole over $58M from senior citizens throughout the United States and Canada by illegal telemarketing scams.

Well Mr. Skinner...you have your work cut out for you today as you pursue Kelly G Rogers. Go get em!

Update: State of Texas v. Kelly G. Rogers

This time it's different.

This time it would appear the trial of Kelly G. Rogers will proceed with a pretrial conference on December 7th and the trial scheduled on December 12, 2011.

This time an agenda has accompanied the subpoenas sent to SEVEN individuals who will testify against the actions of Kelly G. Rogers. These agendas have never been forwarded with previous subpoenas so something is different this time around.

John Charles Hardin will face off against the DA's office to see who can prove their point.

Can Hardin convince anyone that $435,000 taken from the company was some type of compensation for Kelly Rogers hard work? Or will the DA prove it's just another investment scheme propagated by Rogers Ala:  Rio Grande Coal Mine, LLC v Kelly Rogers, Carrie Rogers, Bradley Dean v. Land and Minerals Corporation, Series C LLP v. Kelly G Rogers, Bill Thompson v. Kelly Gordon Rogers,   SEC v. Kelly G Rogers, etc.

Stay tuned.