Laughery, others indicted on federal criminal charges
By JEFFREY SAULTON, jsaulton@newsandsentinel.comCHARLESTON - A 12-count federal court indictment was handed down Wednesday against Heidi Ditchendorf Laughery and others in relation to the Sequelle Communications Alliance.
Indicted with Laughery by the grand jury meeting in Charleston were James Larry Hymer, R. Scott Truslow and Mentorgen LLC.
They were charged in count eight of the indictment with a money-laundering conspiracy. Laughery is charged with five counts of mail fraud, two counts of theft from an organization receiving federal funds, money laundering and four counts of engaging in illegal monetary transactions.
Sequelle was founded in Marietta in 2000 as a non-profit corporation to provide wireless Internet service to Ohio residents. Sequelle Communications Alliance Inc. was formed a year later and moved to Parkersburg as a for-profit West Virginia business with the primary purpose of providing cost-effective, high-speed broadband access to businesses, educational institutions and consumers in west central West Virginia and southeastern Ohio.
Laughery was the principal founding member and served as its president and CEO from about September 2001 to March 2005.
Mentorgen LLC was a telecommunications software development company and a vendor and primary contractor for Sequelle. Hymer was a founding partner in Mentorgen and its chief financial officer and Truslow was the founder and sole member of Truscom LLC, a Columbus,Ohio-based company offering the engineering services of Truslow on a contract basis to Sequelle, according to the charges. In 2004, Truslow became the chief operations officer of Mentorgen.
In the mail fraud counts it is alleged Laughery completed $3 million in federal fund loan applications for broadband Internet service in rural areas from the Rural Utility Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In applications to obtain supplemental funding, the indictment alleges Laughery represented to development entities the company would create 40 to 45 jobs paying more than $40,000 annually.
Laughery allegedly failed to disclose she was convicted in 1987 on two wire fraud offenses of misapplication and embezzlement of $130,000 in her job as a financial consultant and broker by creating fictitious accounts and she filed for bankruptcy in April 2001 in Ohio
According to the indictment, in a scheme to defraud the Rural Utility Service, Laughery knowingly caused to be delivered to the Rural Utility Service invoices for nonapproved items totaling $2,918,719 between August 2003 and September 2004.
In counts six and seven she is charged with knowingly misapplying $2.4 million of USDA funds.
In count eight all defendants are alleged to have discussed a plan to transfer loan money from Sequelle's account at a bank to Laughery, knowing the funds could not be used to pay Laughery. More than $240,000 in federal loan proceeds allegedly were to be transferred from Truslow's business bank account to Laughery's personal bank account.
In counts nine through 12, it is alleged Laughery knowingly engaged and caused others to be engaged in a monetary transaction affecting interstate commerce. On Dec. 2, 2003, $14,908.55 was transferred from Truscom LLC to Laughery's accounts in a bank in the Marietta area. Transfers of $100,200 on Jan. 23, 2004; $79,200 on Mach 12, 2004 and $50,000 on Sept 28, 2004 occurred between the accounts, according to the indictment.
Federal officials said they do not have any information as to where Laughery now resides.
Special Agent Andrew T. Hromoko Jr., public information officer for the IRS - Criminal Investigation, said several agencies were involved in the investigation.
"Anne Marie Coons, special agent in charge for IRS- Criminal Investigation, whose agency was involved in the investigation commended all agents and officers in reaching a successful indictment," he said. "The other agencies involved include the U.S. Attorney's office, the U.S. Department of Agriculture - Office of the Inspector General and the West Virginia Commission on Special Investigations."
