The co-conspirator of a retired FBI agent who convinced a Granbury woman she was on “secret probation” and conned her out of more than $750,000 was sentenced Thursday to 70 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release.
Joseph DeLeon, 64, of Fort Worth was convicted last August of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in a jury trial before U.S. District Judge Ada Brown of Dallas. His co-defendant, William Roy Stone Jr., was sentenced on Feb. 6 to 87 months in prison followed by a three-year supervised release. The two were jointly and severally ordered to pay $765,320.37 to the victim of their fraud scheme, identified in a December 2021 indictment only as “C.T.”
According to evidence presented at trial, Stone convinced C.T., whom he met through DeLeon, that she was under “secret probation” for federal drug crimes in “Judge Anderson’s court in Austin.” There is no such federal judge in Austin.
Stone and DeLeon, an occasional Spanish interpreter for Fort Worth law enforcement agencies, told the victim that the judge had appointed the two of them to administer the conditions of her six-year “secret probation.” They required her to compensate them for their “supervisory services” and for any expenses they incurred. They further insisted that she not disclose her “probation” to anyone and would risk imprisonment and loss of her children if she did not comply with their terms.
Copies of multiple six-figure checks she wrote the two men were admitted into evidence at trial. Over the course of 11 months, according to testimony, C.T. gave Stone more than $700,000 and DeLeon more than $50,000.
At Thursday’s sentencing hearing, DeLeon, who was using a wheelchair, apologized to the victim and said he, too, was a victim of Stone, the retired FBI agent.
“I’m sorry that I trusted Bill,” he said in his allocution to Judge Brown. “We were both betrayed by him,” he said, referring to himself and C.T. He described his victim as “a kind woman with a good heart.”
His victim was having none of it. She told Judge Brown, “Without him, none of this would have been possible. He was a key player” who arranged her every meeting with Stone.
DeLeon’s lawyers, Frank Sellers and Greg Westfall of Fort Worth, contended that DeLeon’s numerous health problems — including spinal and hip disorders, an irregular heartbeat, inflamed nerves and sleep apnea — made him a poor candidate for incarceration.
“I feel like I’m fighting for my life,” DeLeon told the judge.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jenna Danelle Rudoff noted that DeLeon didn’t appear in court in a wheelchair until his sentencing hearing began on March 5, and showed no signs of physical debilitation during his three-week trial in August. She added that DeLeon lives alone in Fort Worth and is able to dress, bathe and feed himself, drive, and otherwise demonstrate physical self-sufficiency.
She described the con DeLeon and Stone pulled on C.T. as “unthinkable, unimaginable and practically unspeakable.”
Also representing the government at the sentencing were assistant U.S. attorneys Marcus J. Busch and Donna S. Max.
Representing Stone at trial was Gregg Gallian of Dallas.
The case number in the Northern District of Texas is 3:21-CR-00236-E