26 July 2012

Religious fraud? Isn't that redundant?

Rico says don't get him started on religion, but Michael Hinkelman has an article in the Philadelphia Daily News about a local scam:
Instead of providing the promised trip of a lifetime to his victims, John Baird delivered heartache and disappointment, profiting from the dreams of his senior and religious victims. That's how a federal prosecutor described Baird, 74, of Elkins Park, to a federal judge at his sentencing.
Baird owned and operated a travel business, Christian Pilgrim Tours Inc., that arranged trips to holy sites in the Middle East and elsewhere. He pleaded guilty in January to bilking 138 customers of more than four hundred thousand dollars between April of 2006 and 2007; victims had signed up for seven trips that were subsequently canceled and for which customers, with few exceptions, were not paid the refunds that Baird promised them.
U.S. District Judge Michael Baylson sentenced Baird to five years in prison and ordered him to pay restitution of $410,340 to his victims. He must surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on 24 August.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Diviny said that Baird's company filed for bankruptcy on 16 October 2006, one day before an offered trip to Poland had been scheduled to depart.
Baird told Baylson that his attorneys had told him that he should look after his ailing wife and that they would keep an eye on the travel business, later advising him to take the company into bankruptcy. "I had ineffective counsel," the admitted fraudster said. "If they had done their job, I wouldn't be here today."
Baylson said: "You preyed on people who were poor, of modest means, who were vulnerable and elderly, and you lied to them."
Baird advertised in Catholic magazines, and often enlisted priests or other church leaders to encourage members to attend his trips. Diviny said that Baird's customers paid him directly by mailing him checks, almost always the full price of the trip, far in advance.
The prosector said that some victims felt guilty because they had introduced others to Baird. The feds said that Baird used the funds taken from customers to pay for groceries, baseball tickets, his mortgage, and legal fees.

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