A convicted felon with a penchant for nice homes and fancy cars has been indicted on charges of persuading people to invest in a money-losing company and hoodwinking banks and insurance companies.
The indictment, unsealed Tuesday, says Douglas Alan Glaser, 34, and Christopher Stevenson, 39, devised a method to steal money through a securities-fraud scheme.
In April 1997, the Securities and Exchange Commission took action against Glaser and ordered him to pay a fine of $745,000, which remains unpaid.
Denver prosecutor Ken Laff said Stevenson is serving a 16-year prison term for an earlier theft conviction.
Laff said the total loss to investors was about $19,000 and that the loss to banks and other businesses was $280,000.
The grand jury states that, using false documents, Glaser bought a home for $750,000 and obtained insurance for his three vehicles – a Land Rover and two Porsches.
Beginning in December 2003, the grand jury said, Glaser and Stevenson promoted a stock called Euro Off-line. They claimed that investors would double or triple their investments in a short period, the indictment said.
They allegedly encouraged investors to hold on to their shares when the stock declined in value from more than $5 a share to less than 10 cents a share.
The indictment said the investors never would have trusted their money to Glaser had they known he was a convicted felon. Also, the indictment said, their money was being funneled into a company, Accesstel Inc., which had no income and no assets and was operating in the red with a loss of $1.8 million.
The grand jury said the president of Euro Off-line, Randall Middleton, is a convicted felon. The president of Accesstel, Kevin Marion, also has a criminal record, the grand jury said.
A search of Glaser’s residence turned up a handgun and a couple of passports and birth certificates in various names, authorities said.
The Secret Service, the Social Security Administration, the Colorado Division of Securities and Denver police took part in the investigation.
Staff writer Howard Pankratz can be reached at 303-820-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com.
