A man who bilked victims of more than $500,000 in a fraudulent roofing business scheme pleaded guilty in a Texarkana federal court Monday to four counts of wire fraud.
Glen Lee Dobbs Jr., 46, appeared with Longview, Texas, lawyer Greg Waldron for a plea hearing Monday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Caroline Craven in Texarkana's downtown federal building. Dobbs entered the four guilty pleas with no agreement in place as to the sentence he will receive. That means U.S. District Judge Robert Schroeder III will determine Dobbs' punishment under federal guidelines. Dobbs is facing up to 20 years in prison, a fine up to $250,000, or both.
Dobbs first entered pleas of not guilty to all four charges listed in a May 18, 2016, indictment issued by a federal grand jury in the Texarkana Division of the Eastern District of Texas. At least one of Dobbs' victims watched Monday as he told Craven he is guilty as charged.
Between May 2011 and May 2012, Dobbs convinced investors he had solid contracts to perform roofing jobs at the Canton Pavilion in Canton, Texas, and the Life Tabernacle Church in Houston, Texas, when in reality Dobbs was never contracted to work at either location, according to a factual basis document used to create the following account.
"To advance my scheme, I presented the victim with false invoices for roofing materials on letterhead for a company named Barr-H Supply, which was a fictitious company that I had created," the factual basis states. "I used the false invoices to represent material costs that had been billed to me, when in fact, I never purchased or contracted to purchase the materials described in the invoices."
Dobbs' victim made four separate wire transfers from the State Bank of DeKalb, Texas, to an account in Louisiana controlled by Dobbs on the following dates: $214,845.92 on Jan. 12, 2012; $38,000 on Feb. 13, 2012; $157,843.31 on Feb. 15, 2012; and $141,737 on March 9, 2012. Dobbs did not use the money to perform the roofing work he claimed to be doing.
Instead, Dobbs used the $552,426.23 to put into other projects and to pay off unrelated debts, including debts he incurred while convincing other victims to invest in the phantom Canton and Houston roofing jobs. Dobbs acknowledges in the factual basis he signed that he is liable for $552,426.23 in restitution.
Dobbs will return to court for formal sentencing once a presentence report has been completed by the federal probation department. The report will include information meant to aid the court at sentencing including Dobbs' personal, educational and criminal histories.
Craven allowed Dobbs to remain free on the $25,000 unsecured appearance bond set for him at his initial court appearance last year.