Rogers Con Man Claims He Was Duped By FBI Agents

James Bolt
James Bolt

FAYETTEVILLE -- Convicted Rogers con man Jim Bolt is claiming in a lawsuit filed Monday in federal court he was the victim of a scam by the FBI.

Bolt, 61, pleaded guilty in January to one count of wire fraud, one count of mail fraud and one count of money laundering in a plea bargain with prosecutors. The other charges in the 14-count indictment were dismissed as part of the plea bargain.

Legal Lingo

Prisoners And Detainees

A prisoner is anyone who is deprived of personal liberty against his or her will following conviction of a crime. Although not afforded all the privileges of a free citizen, a prisoner is assured certain minimal rights by the U.S. Constitution. Detainees are individuals who are kept in jail even though they have not yet been convicted of a crime. A majority of detainees are individuals who are unable to obtain sufficient funds to post bail and therefore cannot be released from jail pending a trial on the criminal charges.

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Bolt was sentenced in late June to more than eight years in federal prison, fined $50,000 and ordered to pay more than $2.5 million in restitution to the victims of at least five scams using forged documents to obtain unclaimed property and cash under the guise of a purported cancer treatment center.

Bolt claims the FBI created fictitious companies and people who enticed him to break the law. An FBI operative initiated the scheme to claim unclaimed property, according to his complaint.

"From 2005 through the present, Jane Doe #1 and others presently unknown devised and implemented a scheme to violate my civil rights through conduct calculated to entrap or implicate me in a criminal event," Bolt wrote in the prisoner civil rights lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Fayetteville. "It was part of the scheme for Doe #1 and others to alter and manipulate the corporate records of an Arkansas business entity, Life Preservers Inc., to create, prepare or author various corporate and personal documents reflecting donations of property to Life Preservers and to lead me to sign property claims based on these spurious documents."

Robert Cessario, an FBI agent who investigated the case, said Bolt had five or six larger scams and 20 to 30 smaller ones going when he was arrested. About $100,000 was never accounted for.

The FBI launched an investigation in August 2012 into suspicious activity involving Situs Cancer Research Center, Bolt's purported alternative cancer treatment clinic in Rogers.

Prosecutors accused Bolt of committing mail and wire fraud by preparing and sending fraudulent documents containing forged signatures and false authentication features to various entities and individuals to persuade them to send him unclaimed property, money and other assets from defunct companies and individuals with no next of kin.

The government contends Bolt took more than $2.5 million from Community Medical Group in California and at least four other companies.

Bolt is also claiming in the lawsuit filed Monday he was denied medical care for heart and neurological problems while being held in jails in Benton and Washington counties. Bolt claims some of the medical attention was denied for the sole purpose of furthering his pain and suffering while in jail awaiting trial.

Bolt claims the Benton and Washington County jails are operated in a way that is calculated to cause physical, mental or emotional injury to inmates and resulted in his permanent injury or disability.

Jail medical staff lied to a judge about Bolt's health condition, and FBI agents illegally accessed his medical records, according to the lawsuit.

NW News on 07/15/2014

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