Sunday 19 April 2015

Clyde Parrish Gets Six Months in Federal Prison

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http://www.athensreview.com/news/local_news/parrish-gets-six-months-in-federal-prison/article_9f893fe1-d856-5188-ab50-651fdba5c156.html

Posted: Sunday, February 18, 2007 11:11 pm

Athens resident Clyde Thomas Parrish was sentenced to six months in prison in a Monday plea agreement for his role in a wire fraud scheme.

Parrish, 56, was sentenced for a charge of misprision of a felony in the Tyler federal court of U.S. District Judge Michael Schneider. He was indicted May 10, 2005, and pleaded guilty to the charge July 7, 2006, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Judith Guthrie.


Misprision of a felony means not reporting a known felony to authorities. The charge carries a punishment of up to three years in prison and/or a fine of up to $250,000.


Parrish was ordered Monday to pay a $2,000 fine in addition to serving his prison sentence. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alan Jackson, the lead prosecutor in the case, said he thinks the punishment was suitable for a plea agreement.


“I think it was an appropriate sentence, given all the circumstances,” Jackson said.


Parrish’s charge stemmed from several incidents between 2002 and 2003 in which his wife, Julia — an Irish immigrant and a former active member of the Athens community — defrauded several investors in a real estate scam. Mrs. Parrish encouraged people to invest money in land in Ireland that she claimed was hers, but which she did not actually own.


She pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud on Oct. 12, 2005, and was later sentenced to 27 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution of more than $500,000.


In order to pay restitution, she forfeited many of her personal possessions — including two cars, 48 acres of land in Henderson County, two bank accounts and a chair from the Texas Senate purchased at a Cattle Barons’ Gala.


“We’ve ordered the forfeiture of much of the property for sale to pay the restitution,” Jackson said.


Mrs. Parrish was released from prison on June 29, 2006.


Parrish was aware of Julia’s activities before July 14, 2004, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice.


He later provided false information to the authorities about his wife’s scam.


Among the scam’s victims was former Athens physician Dennis Rose, who lost $392,000. Mrs. Parrish contacted Rose by e-mail in the course of the scam, thereby committing wire fraud — a federal offense carrying a sentence of up to 25 years in prison and/or a fine of up to $500,000.


Rose, who moved his practice from Athens to Port Arthur in May 2004 — largely due to his experience with the scam — said he was in the courtroom the day of Parrish’s sentencing.


“To give an honest answer, no,” Rose said when asked if he thinks Mr. Parrish received a fair sentence. “He’s a criminal, and he deserves to go to jail for a lot longer than six months.


“It’s not commiserate with the crime or with his amount of involvement in the crime.”


Rose said he was convinced that Mr. Parrish “masterminded” the scam, while Mrs. Parrish only served as a front.


“He’s a clever guy,” Rose said. “He was indicted on 19 counts. He pleaded guilty to the one that ... had the lightest sentence and allowed him the most wiggle room.


“He’s not an innocent man.”


He added that he doesn’t hold out much hope of recovering his money.


“I live in the real world, and I’ll never see a dime back from (Julia) on this,” he said. “I was told that the money (from her sold possessions) would be dispersed among the victims, so I suppose I was sort of promised restitution.”


Parrish has been ordered to voluntarily surrender to authorities in April to begin his prison sentence.

Husband indcited, wife sentenced over real estate investment scam

Sean O’Driscoll reports for the Irish Abroad that a Tyrone woman accused of swindling more than $500,000 from society friends by offering them non-existent Irish property has pleaded guilty to fraud, despite protesting her innocence to the Irish Voice in a prison interview last July. Julia Parrish, originally from Castlederg and formerly a leading member of the Republican Party in the affluent city of Athens, 60 miles south of Dallas, had told the Irish Voice that she was being set up and would be cleared at trial. 
However, Parrish pleaded guilty to wire fraud on Monday, one of 12 charges on the indictment. Assistant District Attorney Alan Jackson told the Irish Voice that he expected Parrish would be jailed for two and a half to three years when she is sentenced in about four months. He said that the wire fraud related to an e-mail she had sent to the victim of the scam, a Dr. Dennis E. Rose, in which she tried to assure him that his money was safe. In reality, say prosecutors, she was using his money to fund a lavish lifestyle.
Parrish claimed to be able to arrange the purchase of investment property in rural Ireland. When her society friends parted with hundreds of thousands of dollars, she spent it on gambling trips, several properties, a high-speed go-cart, two Rolex watches, a car and pick-up truck. Parrish was a big name in the local Republican Party and had met President Reagan and discussed her love of Ireland with him. She was also a high profile member of the Lone Star State Women’s Republican Club.
She emigrated to the U.S. in 1985 before organizing a prayer ministry in her hometown. She had clamed to the Irish Voice that she had fallen out with Dr. Rose, the doctor who had made the most serious allegations against her. Parrish said that Rose had set her up and that the truth about his own financial dealings would come out at trial.
Parrish, who ran a mobile home retail business with her husband, Clyde, was known for organizing the official memorial service in Athens for Reagan upon his death in June. Parrish had previously campaigned for the election of the local Republican District Attorney Donna Bennett and had been “a generous supporter” of the local Cattle Baron’s Ball to raise money for the American Cancer society.
While the wire fraud charge carries a maximum 20 year sentence, prosecutors say they will be satisfied with a two and a half or three year sentence. Parrish is to remain in jail until sentencing.

Athens Man Pleads Guilty to Concealing Wife's Scam

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07/07/2006 
ATHENS MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO CONCEALING WIFE'S SCAM 
By: CASEY KNAUPP, Staff Writer 

The husband of an illegal Irish immigrant pleaded guilty Friday to concealing his wife's crime - scamming their East Texas friends of $517,000 in a real estate scheme involving her native soil. 

Clyde Thomas Parrish Jr., 55, of Athens was initially indicted on fraud charges similar to his wife Julia Parrish. But on Friday, he pleaded guilty to misprision of a felony. He admitted that he knew about his wife's crime and concealed it, misleading FBI agents on July 14, 2004 and hampering the investigation. 

He faces up to three years in prison. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alan Jackson said attorneys agreed to a six-month sentence but his punishment will ultimately be decided by a federal district judge. 

U.S. Magistrate Judge Judith Guthrie allowed Parrish, who was defended by Greg Waldron, to remain free on a personal recognizance bond pending his sentencing hearing.

Parrish was indicted for conspiring with his wife to commit wire fraud from July 29, 2002, until July 21, 2004 in Henderson County. The 14-count indictment will be dismissed after he is sentenced.

Mrs. Parrish, also known as Victoria J. Parrish, approached people with a real estate investment proposal in which they would invest in land in Ireland and were promised a return of several hundred percent. She pleaded guilty in November 2004 to committing wire fraud on Dec. 1, 2003, through an e-mail communication she sent to one of her victims. She was sentenced to more than two years in prison, and was ordered to pay $517,000 in restitution to the victims and to report for deportation proceedings after serving the prison term. 

Mrs. Parrish has served her prison term but remains detained pending her deportation, attorneys said Friday.

She admitted that she bilked a physician of $392,000. Although he is the primary victim and the only one named in her indictment, Mrs. Parrish acknowledged that other scammed investors included her husband's boss and owner of several mobile home companies for $85,000, a couple they had become good friends with for $20,000, and a construction company. 

Her husband's indictment lists victims of $85,000, $20,000, and two persons for $10,000 each.

The two owners of the construction company did not invest money in the plot, but agreed to finance and build a cottage on the Parrishes' property. Mrs. Parrish apparently owed the company $30,000, a FBI agent who investigated the case said. 

The agent said Mrs. Parrish became good friends with her victims. She took them out to dinner, socialized with them and even went on a trip to Alaska with one couple. After becoming close, she told her victims she had inherited land holdings in Ireland that would be developed and sold for a high profit - investors would see a return of 400 to 700 percent. As time passed, more opportunities arose for Mrs. Parrish's investors, he said. 

Mrs. Parrish was charged with wire fraud after investigators discovered e-mails between Rose and Mrs. Parrish discussing the investment. She told him that her cousin, an attorney in Ireland, was handling the land holdings and investments. But phone records show no significant number or consistent calls to any one number in Ireland.

Mrs. Parrish is illegally in the country and claimed she came to the United States about 20 years ago. She met and married Parrish and used false Social Security numbers on several documents, including a 1996 bankruptcy filing in New Mexico. They lived in Athens since 2000, where Mrs. Parrish was active in the community. 

Mrs. Parrish has used about five different names and three Social Security numbers since she has lived in the country. 

Officials initially said Parrish told FBI agents he was unaware of the scheme and the large amounts of money his wife deposited into their bank account. 

Mrs. Parrish forfeited property she bought with the fraudulent funds, including two pieces of land totaling 47 acres in Henderson County, a Lincoln Town Car, a Toyota Tundra pickup, a Destiny Fusion Series powered parachute, which is a "souped-up go-cart with an attached parachute," a trailer, tractor and other farm equipment, two Rolex watches and a Texas Senate chair she acquired at the Cattle Barons' Gala. Mrs. Parrish initially claimed the money was used solely for her gambling addiction, but later said she purchased items with about $80,000 of the stash.