A Hays County grand jury has indicted Robbie Dale Walker of Dripping Springs on a count of theft of more than $200,000. In an indictment unsealed Friday, Walker is accused of swindling money from a 93-year-old family friend who thought she was investing in oil and gas wells.
Previous story, Dripping Springs man charged with oil well fraud, July 6: A Dripping Springs man charged with stealing more than $200,000 from a 93-year-old woman who thought she was investing in oil and gas wells may have had other victims, investigators say.
Robbie Dale Walker, 53, was arrested June 29 by the Hays County Sheriff’s Office and charged with theft over $200,000, a first-degree felony punishable by five to 99 years in prison.
In July 2009, Walker asked the woman, his mother’s best friend, for a $100,000 investment to go toward developing a North Dakota petroleum field, Deputy Angelo Floiran said in an affidavit used to secure arrest warrants. In October 2010, the woman allegedly allowed Walker to use a certificate of deposit she owned at a local bank as collateral on a $100,000 loan, investigators say.
But the victim never received the 15 percent annual return she was promised on the investment and, instead, Walker used the money for purchases at match.com, Louis Vuitton, Tiffany and Co., Best Buy and other establishments, Floiran said. When Walker defaulted on the loan, the woman lost more than $216,000.
