Small town's big man bilked neighbors, police say

[babylonsister]

Small town is jolted by allegations of fraud
Claremont resident is accused of scamming investors out of millions.
By Kirsten Valle


CLAREMONT The phone rang at 8:30 on a chilly Friday night at the woman's Hickory home. Her caller ID showed the number for J.V. Huffman Jr., who managed her $130,000 retirement account – but there was a different voice on the line.

“This is agent Shawn Pruett with the N.C. Secretary of State's office,” the woman recalled hearing. “Do you have money invested with J.V. Huffman? We've got him for fraud.”

“I started shaking so bad, it was like I was having a seizure,” said the woman, who asked not to be named for fear it would compromise plans to consolidate her loans. “It turned my life upside down. It was the money I was going to live on the rest of my life.”

Claremont, a blink-and-you-miss-it town of 1,100, has been jolted by accusations that Huffman, one of its best-known residents, cheated hundreds of investors out of millions, spending the money on fancy cars and his sprawling home.

more...

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/597/story/383186.html

[Ian David]

1. Ahh... Joe The Grifter... more Small Town Values from The Real America at work.

I wonder if this town will even get their marching band.

[valerief]

2. He should have been running a financial institution instead. He'd never get arrested. nt

[Lars39]

3. OT...but has anyone else noticed all the Edward Jones places in these

little bitty towns? Driving around little towns in TN, there seems to be an Edward Jones Investments in just about every little town. Kinda weird once I started noticing it.

[GentryDixon]

4. The hook is religion.

Utah has one of the highest fraud levels in the country, and 9 times out of 10 it is a beloved member of their Church Ward who has perpetrated the fraud on them. Putting a Bishop or Elder title on the man automatically makes him reliable to these people.

[tanyev]

5. Surprise, surprise, surprise.

HUFFMAN, J V MR
CONOVER,NC 28613 BILTMORE FINANCIAL GROUP/CONSULTANT 12/19/03 $500 Republican National Cmte (R)
HUFFMAN, JV
CONOVER,NC 28613 SELF-EMPLOYED/CONSULTANT 1/4/08 $2,300 Huckabee, Mike (R)
HUFFMAN, JV
CONOVER,NC 28613 SELF EMPLOYED/INVESTMENT BANKER 9/17/08 $2,100 McHenry, Patrick (R)


http://www.opensecrets.org/indivs/search.php?name=huffman%2C+j&state=NC&zip=&employ=&cand=&all=Y&sort=N&capcode=ntr2z&submit=Submit


I like how he styles himself "investment banker". I guess that does sound better than "reprehensible con man".

[AllieB]

6. Figures.

:eyes:

More Republican values in action.

[DeschutesRiver]

7. "Mr. Palin" - gosh, I thought everyone from a small town

was uber virtuous, and the only patriotic good souls in America?

Crooks and con jobs live everywhere, even in small towns. Mr. Huffington was a small town fraud, just like his female counterpart, Ms. Sarah Palin, shoved upon the American public, fresh from her crooked ways in small town Alas-KA.

Yep, yep, yep! Thank YOU, Sarah Palin! Thank YOU, Mr. Huffington! People are just so freaking gullible to any con man/woman who comes along that it simply must be part of our genetic code to fall for this shit.

[Ikonoklast]

8. Churchy McThief

Interviews with about a dozen friends, associates and investors paint a complicated portrait of the former school board member and church leader. Those who know him say they're torn between images of the man they know – a soft-spoken hometown boy who quoted scripture, donated to charity and threw parties for college students – and the man they've read about in the papers recently.

Easy to be a high-roller with stolen money.