Four individuals who were involved in a wire fraud scheme involving a fake will were sentenced in federal court last week.
Donna Herring, John Wayne Kinley, Diane Kinley and Jordan Peterson had all previously plead guilty to charges stemming from a federal indictment implicating the defendants in the falsification of a will belonging to Matthew Seth Jacobs.
Jacobs was injured in a Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion and received a multi-million-dollar settlement, which was payable beginning April 2012. He died in an automobile accident on Jan. 19, 2015, at the age of 34.
After Jacobs’ death, his son — Jordan Jacobs, along with Matthew Jacobs’ brother, Laurence Reed — searched Jacobs’ home for his last will and testament but were unable to locate it. On Jan. 25, 2015, Donna Herring claimed to have discovered in a gun safe in Jacobs’ home a sealed envelope containing a duplicate of the will and testament. The “will,” later determined to be fabricated, left Jacobs’ son $50,000 for his education, and the remaining assets to Herring’s daughter.
According to prosecutors, the Kinleys helped Herring create the will online by using a debit card assigned to Marion Kinley on the FormSwift.com website. Peterson reportedly lied to the FBI about the whereabouts of Jacob’s cell phone.
Herring was sentenced Nov. 12 to three years and five months in the federal Bureau of Prisons. John Kinley was sentenced to 12 months and one day in the BOP, with the extra day making him eligible for ‘good behavior time,’ meaning he may not spend a full year in prison. Diane Kinley was sentenced to 18 months in the BOP, while Peterson was sentenced to three years probation, with six months of home detention. All are scheduled to start their sentences on Jan. 22.
On Nov. 14, the Kinleys and Herring were ordered to pay $132,964.66 in restitution to Jordan Jacobs. All three are responsible for paying the restitution, which is due immediately and no later than 2026.
They were also previously ordered to return all property from the estate, property purchased with proceeds from the estate and leftover monies from the estate. The government did not seek restitution from Peterson.
Herring faced a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. According to federal sentencing guidelines, based on the severity of her crime and her criminal history, which was minor, Judge Hickey had the discretion to sentence Herring to between 41 and 57 months in federal prison.
Before sentencing began, Herring and her defense attorney, Erin Cassinelli, had the opportunity to speak on Herring’s behalf, with Cassinelli speaking first.
“Deep down, Donna (Herring) is not a bad person. … She’s learned a valuable lesson in telling the truth,” Cassinelli said. “I would ask the court to consider that this has changed her as a person. … Let this be a moment that she learns from and the community learns from.”
Cassinelli asked that Judge Hickey consider a lesser sentence for Herring considering her remorse and minor criminal history. When Herring’s turn to speak came up, she was unable to speak through an outburst of tears; Cassinelli read a prepared statement from Herring on her behalf.
“I’m not a horrible person, but I made a horrible mistake,” the letter read. Herring also apologized to both Jordan Jacobs and her daughter in the letter, saying she “never thought about how [her] wrongdoing would affect” her daughter.
The federal prosecution, led by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ben Wulf, then had an opportunity to give statements about their position on Herring’s sentencing.
“I’m struck by the sanitized version of what’s been presented … This was a deeply personal crime on Jordan Jacobs and the estate of Matthew Jacobs,” Wulf said. “The record shows Ms. Herring was not thinking of the “right things” when Matthew Jacobs died. … This was all about the money. We wouldn’t be here if all he had was a shoebox full of pictures. … They set out to steal from someone that’s powerless to stop them.”
Wulf proceeded to read text messages between Herring and Jordan Jacobs, where Jordan Jacobs said he hoped to be named in his father’s will, “not for any of his belongings, but to know that he still cared about me.”
Peterson’s attorney, Allen Roberts, urged Judge Hickey to sentence her to probation. She faced up to five years in prison, and the sentencing guidelines called for zero to six months of incarceration.
Peterson did not speak on her own behalf, and the prosecution did not offer any final comments about her case. She was sentenced to three years probation, with the first six months to be served in home detention with electronic monitoring.
“I don’t take your conduct lightly,” Judge Hickey said.
Herring will be subject to three years of supervised release after her prison term. Special conditions for her supervised release include a prohibition on committing any local, state or federal crimes; having or using controlled substances; having a firearm or other weapons; and accruing new debt or credit lines. She must also submit to DNA testing and searches as requested, and must comply with health referrals from her probation office.
“Your conduct was motivated by self-interest,” Hickey said, explaining why she did not deviate from federal sentencing guidelines.
Herring requested she be incarcerated at Federal Prison Camp Bryan, in Bryan, Texas; Hickey agreed to recommend that, but said she cannot guarantee where Herring will be placed.
story text created on Friday 11/15/2019 at 3:28:25 pm by Bradly Gill