Texas Radio Host Doc Gallagher Gets Life Imprisonment Sentence for Conning Millions From Elderly Listeners

Texas radio host William Neil "Doc" Gallagher was given a life imprisonment sentence, adding to another 30-year prisons sentence from state District Elizabeth Beach for his guilty pleas. He was found to have defrauded elderly listeners out of millions of dollars.

Gallagher's sentences are to be served concurrently, according to a CBS News report.

More than a dozen senior victims testified during the hearing on Gallagher's case, saying they lost around $50,000 to $60,000 invested in the Gallagher Financial Group. Some said they had to sell their homes, borrow money from their children, or take part-time jobs to supplement their Social Security benefits.

Lori Varnell said that Gallagher is one of the worst offenders she has seen. She is the chief of the Tarrant County District Attorney's Elder Financial Fraud department.

Doc Gallagher's Fraud Scheme

Gallagher was known to have defrauded more than 190 listeners for at least $23 million, The New York Times reported.

He targeted older investors and promoted his company, Gallagher Financial Group, in churches and on the radio. His company had offices in Dallas and Hurst.

A Dallas County judge sentenced the fraud suspect to 25 years in state prison last March. He was also ordered to pay more than $10 million in restitution to the victims of his fraud.

A spokeswoman for the Tarrant County Criminal District's Office, Anna Tinsley Williams, said that 192 victims had claimed they lost $38 million.

In March 2019, the Security and Exchange Commission charged Gallagher with running a Ponzi scheme, shutting down his operations.

Federal court records noted that a lawyer at Brown Fox in Dallas, Cort Thomas, has been appointed by a federal judge to recover losses, estimated at more than $23 million.

Thomas has distributed about $3.3 million to the victims, as well as suing Salem Media, which owns the radio stations on which Gallagher hosted his show.

A huge majority of Gallagher's clients were in their 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s. Most of them are middle-class people who were not looking for enormous returns but a stable retirement fund.

The money he got from investors was deposited in a single account, which Gallagher can only control.

Thomas noted on the lawsuit filed against Salem Media that it was "a classic Ponzi scheme."

Doc Gallagher's Victims

The victims had spoken about losing trust in people and of the depression they now suffer because of losing their money through Gallagher's company, according to a CBS Local report.

One of the victims, Judy Dewitt, said that she is afraid her money is going to run out. She added that it is a very scary thing.

Another one of the victims, 74-year-old Susa Pippi, said that she and her husband lost their entire savings, amounting to around $600,000.

Pippi said that they learned this happened around the time her husband was about to retire from being a commercial sandblaster.

Pippi's husband continued to work while having nerve damage and experiencing collapsed disks.

She said in an interview that Gallagher had ruined them for the rest of their lives.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

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