Terry Scott Hyder, of Orlando, Florida, was sentenced to 84 months in prison late last week after pleading guilty to wire fraud in U.S. District Court in North Carolina. He also was ordered to serve three year of supervised release, and ordered to pay $789,649 in restitution. According to court documents, Hyler defrauded nine elderly investors in Orlando, Florida and Polk County, North Carolina out of their savings in a fraudulent investment scheme that ran from approximately June 2007 through July 2010. Through his company, Sterling and Stratford, LLC, Hyler persuaded the elderly individuals – many of whom he met in connection with Alzheimer’s support groups – to invest in “real estate trusts,” which he said he would set up in their names.Hyler falsely represented that Sterling and Stratford was a legitimate investment business, which could obtain high-yield returns for investors through short-term investments. Once his victims agreed to invest in the purported “real estate trusts,” Hyler presented them with trust documents that specified the amount of money they had given him and an alleged rate of return. Instead of investing the money as promised, however, Hyler used the money for his personal expenses. In order to cover up the investment scheme, he also issued falsified account statements to the victims that showed fictitious interest. None of the funds was ever invested on the victims’ behalf. In total, the nine elderly investors lost $789,000. Hyder pled guilty to running the investment scheme in February 2011. He has been in federal custody since his arrest in August 2010.
