Herrin man sentenced to over 3 years for $700,000 in wire fraud | Crime

HERRIN, IL (KFVS) - The U.S. Attorney Stephen R. Wigginton of the Southern District of Illinois announced Friday that a Herrin man was sentenced for wire fraud.

Francis T. Deutsch, 64, was sentenced in the U.S. Court in  Benton, Ill. to over three years in prison and five years mandatory supervised release. The court also ordered him to pay $777,254 in restitution, $600,000 in forfeitures to the United States and a special assessment of $100. Deutsch pleaded guilty on June 9 to one count of wire fraud.

According to Wigginton, Deutsch admitted that between 2008 and early 2009, he and co-defendant Robert Gulledge engaged in a series of fraudulent credit card transactions which caused the Chevron Corporation to pay Gulledge's business, Aeroflight Sales and Charter, for the sale of aviation fuel, when no fuel had actually been dispensed.

Wigginton says Deutsch also admitted that the false credit card transactions caused a loss to Chevron in excess of $700,000.

Deutsch was indicted by a Federal Grand Jury in Benton on one count of wire fraud on Oct. 20. At the time of the offense, Aeroflight was located at the Williamson County Airport in Marion, Ill.

The investigation was conducted by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Ranley R. Killian.

Copyright 2012 KFVS. All rights reserved.