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Log inAcker case: 'This time, he's not getting away with it'
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Acker case: 'This time, he's not getting away with it'
by Outspoken on Mon Oct 06, 2008 4:20 am
Acker case: 'This time, he's not getting away with it'
Maine investors who were swindled by the former lawyer weren't surprised when he went to prison.
By DAVID HENCH
Staff Writer Portland Press Herald
News that Thomas Acker was sentenced to prison last month for swindling investors out of more than $2 million rekindled painful memories for dozens of people who also had trusted him with their money in the 1980s.
"I felt really bad that more people had to suffer, because our suffering was so horrible and I know many families that were almost broken by him," said Julie Sawyer, who along with her husband, Ronald, almost went bankrupt after losing $200,000 in Acker's real estate schemes that went bust. "There's a lot of happiness as well, to see that this time, he's not getting away with it."
Acker, 57, a former lawyer and tax accountant from Hollis, has reported to the Maine Correctional Center in Windham, where he is to serve two years and nine months.
He was sentenced Sept. 23 in Cumberland County Superior Court for felony theft, securities fraud and unlicensed sale of securities after persuading more than a dozen people between 2000 and 2004 to put $2.8 million into investment funds that were either highly risky, outright scams or didn't exist at all. Prosecutors said he used the money to support a comfortable lifestyle and prop up a law and accounting practice that couldn't support itself.
James Whipple, who invested in one of Acker's early real-estate investment partnerships in the 1980s, said he was not surprised that the first time he heard Acker mentioned in two decades was in a news report that he was going to prison.
"You can't change the spots on a leopard. He was dishonest and it caught up to him," Whipple said. "That guy is a criminal, and obviously he got what he deserved."
Whipple was introduced to Acker by a mutual friend and had Acker do some accounting for him. When Acker described a real estate venture, it sounded good.
"Tom was a good salesman. You believed him when you were talking to him," Whipple said. "He had all the facts and figures, computer programs. He was believable. Obviously he had a character flaw, or more than one."
Whipple is no relation to Acker's defense lawyer, Michael Whipple.
James Whipple got out of the real estate venture early and considers himself lucky to have gotten his money back. Many didn't.
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=214338&ac=PHnws
Maine investors who were swindled by the former lawyer weren't surprised when he went to prison.
By DAVID HENCH
Staff Writer Portland Press Herald
News that Thomas Acker was sentenced to prison last month for swindling investors out of more than $2 million rekindled painful memories for dozens of people who also had trusted him with their money in the 1980s.
"I felt really bad that more people had to suffer, because our suffering was so horrible and I know many families that were almost broken by him," said Julie Sawyer, who along with her husband, Ronald, almost went bankrupt after losing $200,000 in Acker's real estate schemes that went bust. "There's a lot of happiness as well, to see that this time, he's not getting away with it."
Acker, 57, a former lawyer and tax accountant from Hollis, has reported to the Maine Correctional Center in Windham, where he is to serve two years and nine months.
He was sentenced Sept. 23 in Cumberland County Superior Court for felony theft, securities fraud and unlicensed sale of securities after persuading more than a dozen people between 2000 and 2004 to put $2.8 million into investment funds that were either highly risky, outright scams or didn't exist at all. Prosecutors said he used the money to support a comfortable lifestyle and prop up a law and accounting practice that couldn't support itself.
James Whipple, who invested in one of Acker's early real-estate investment partnerships in the 1980s, said he was not surprised that the first time he heard Acker mentioned in two decades was in a news report that he was going to prison.
"You can't change the spots on a leopard. He was dishonest and it caught up to him," Whipple said. "That guy is a criminal, and obviously he got what he deserved."
Whipple was introduced to Acker by a mutual friend and had Acker do some accounting for him. When Acker described a real estate venture, it sounded good.
"Tom was a good salesman. You believed him when you were talking to him," Whipple said. "He had all the facts and figures, computer programs. He was believable. Obviously he had a character flaw, or more than one."
Whipple is no relation to Acker's defense lawyer, Michael Whipple.
James Whipple got out of the real estate venture early and considers himself lucky to have gotten his money back. Many didn't.
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=214338&ac=PHnws
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Plato (427-347 BC)
