by ANDY SEVILLA
A Dripping Springs man accused of stealing more than $250,000 from three elderly Hays County women in an oil and gas investing scam was sentenced to 25 years in state prison.
Robbie Dale Walker, 55, pleaded guilty to first-degree felony theft on March 4 and faced five to 99 years in jail.
Records show Walker intentionally misrepresented that funds invested with his company, RD Walker Resources Inc., would be used to bankroll an oil and gas project in North Dakota. The money instead was used to fund Walker’s personal expenses, according to Hays County records.
State District Court Judge Bruce Boyer on April 9 sentenced Walker to 25 years in prison and ordered him to pay $255,000 in restitution.
During testimony a law enforcement officer indicated that Walker targeted two of his victims because of their age – in one instance, he stole more than $200,000 from a woman who is now 95 years old, according to a Texas State Securities Board news release.
“Walker, who promised his investors they could earn annual returns of at least 15 percent from oil and gas projects in North Dakota that didn’t exist, figured his victims wouldn’t live long enough to testify against him,” the release said.
Dolores Conn, a retired state employee and widow of a former Hays County Commissioner, invested $100,000 with Walker twice in 2009. When she invested, Conn was 93 years old and a close friend of Walker’s mother.
“(Conn) lost $100,000 when Walker in (July) 2009 successfully solicited her investment at her home in Dripping Springs. Later in (November) 2009, Walker drove her to her bank, where he obtained a $100,000 cashier’s check pledged against a certificate of deposit she held,” said the securities board news release.
Records show Walker also swindled Mabel P. Wilkinson out of $50,000 and Penny Elam invested $5,000.
Authorities, though, say Walker never invested any money in oil and gas development projects, and instead spent the funds upgrading his mother’s home and on shopping trips to Tiffany and Co., Louis Vuitton, Best Buy, nail salons, day spas, hotels and on a dating website.
Neither Walker nor his company was ever registered to sell securities, according to the securities board news release.
