A Florida man who was a salesman for a North Little Rock company that designs and builds luxury swimming pools was sentenced Thursday to two years and three months in federal prison for defrauding customers and the business of $381,171 altogether.
U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright rejected a request for a probationary sentence and ordered Jason Robert Angel to serve time behind bars for defrauding Scott Girner, who owns Elite Pools by Scott, and seven customers, who were defrauded between December 2015 and August 2016.
Wright also ordered Angel to make full restitution to the victims and to serve three years on supervised release after completing his prison term.
Angel pleaded guilty in August to a wire-fraud charge, admitting that he took advantage of his position executing contracts and collecting customer payments to steal $325,723.33 from the business and more than $55,000 altogether from individual customers, who were each defrauded of amounts between $800 and $22,258.
Angel admitted that he opened a business with a similar name, Elite Pools by Jason, so that he could direct some customers to make checks payable to Elite Pools or to himself personally, allowing him to pocket money for his personal use. In some instances, according to court documents, Angel modified the copy of the contract he provided to the company, such as by forging customers' signatures or indicating that a lower price had been paid for the pool.
At the time of his guilty plea, documents indicated that Angel also was facing a criminal charge in Caddo Parish, La., but that charge ended up being dismissed.
Metro on 01/26/2018