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Former Henrico Policeman Faces Federal Ponzi Scheme Charges

A former Henrico County police officer, Donald C. Lacey, faces federal charges alleging felony counts of mail fraud and unlawful monetary transactions. The federal information filed in the U.S. District Court in Richmond alleges Lacey ran a real estate investment firm in the Richmond area that made false promises to investors and rarely used the money as it was supposed to be used in real estate projects.

The mail fraud charge says that Lacey sent a letter to an investor in Williamsburg, explaining that the money was safe and secure. The charge of engaging in unlawful monetary transactions involves a check for $55,000 from one of Lacey's companies that was used as a payment on a credit card.

In effect, the money Lacey and various other business he controlled used money from investors which was supposed to be used to buy houses in the Richmond area, fix them up and flip them at a profit. "The loans exceeded the loan-to-value ratios promised to investors and the money . . . was rarely used for the designated real estate projects," according to the complaint.

Investors are irate at being duped. "I think they ought to throw the book at him," said Allan Mullian, a Richmond investor who along with his family had invested $2 million through companies Lacey was involved in. Mullian and at least a dozen investors sued, claiming they were duped in what some called an elaborate Ponzi scheme involving Richmond-area properties leveraged to the hilt.

Lacey, if convicted, will forfeit any property traceable to the violations, and may also be imprisoned.