Brentwood Man Convicted, Ordered to Pay Restitution in Securities Law Violations Case

NASHVILLE, Tenn., March 26 -- The Tennessee Attorney General issued the following news release:

A Brentwood man has been ordered to pay restitution, perform community service, and serve six years probation after pleading guilty to bilking a retiree out of thousands of dollars in phony investment schemes.

Glen Verner pled guilty in Davidson County Criminal Court on Thursday, March 21, to two counts of theft. He paid the victim $85,000 in restitution at the time of the plea and must perform 200 hours of community service while on probation. The plea also forbids Verner from selling stocks, bonds, notes, or securities of any kind and from working in the financial services or insurance business.

Verner was previously convicted in 1994 for securities violations, for which he served two years on probation, and is not licensed to sell securities in Tennessee.

The victim, a State of Tennessee retiree, invested nearly all of her life savings with Verner and was left destitute.

"It is especially important that the defendant in this case compensate his victim for losses resulting from his crimes," said Tennessee Attorney General Bob Cooper, whose office investigated and helped prosecute the matter with Davidson County District Attorney Victor S. "Torry" Johnson's office. "She was left destitute after investing in worthless promissory notes. The bank was about to foreclose on her house, and the electric company was about to terminate her service."

"This case shows that the office is committed to prosecuting those who attempt to defraud senior citizens of their life savings," General Johnson said. "In this case, we wanted to make sure that the victim was able to get some restitution, and make an effort to prevent this man from defrauding others in the same manner."

Verner purported to sell the woman an interest in a ranch, which he claimed was once owned by Elvis Presley in Mississippi and in which he had no interest, and in an energy trust company in Alabama, which he claimed would yield high returns for off and onshore oil drilling.

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