Con Artist's Number Is Up Today

By 2001, Miller was placing ads in newspapers soliciting people with poor credit to give him several thousand dollars as down payments for homes. Authorities and victims said he didn't deliver.

"I was naive and excited and anxious to buy my first home," said one victim, Brenda Beyer, a clerk at a Baltimore area convenience store. Beyer, 47, estimated that she lost $30,000, adding, "I gave this man everything I had."

Miller refined the scam and moved its base to the $20,000-a-month office on Pennsylvania Avenue NW in the District, prosecutors said. His most recent convictions stem from this period, July 2003 through April 2004.

Now he was taking money from investors who thought they were putting up cash to buy and sell foreclosed properties. And he was taking deposits from people who wanted to buy the homes.

The scheme picked up, prosecutors said, after Miller stumbled upon the Queen Anne Corp., which owned 65 homes in the Baltimore area. Queen Anne was looking to unload the properties, and Miller expressed interest, getting a portfolio loaded with documents.

The deal went nowhere. Still, Miller kept the paperwork and used it as his own to lure investors, according to prosecutors.

To make his company seem real, Miller hired more than 40 employees. Many left because of payroll problems or the lack of legitimate work, prosecutors said in court papers. Prosecutors declined requests for interviews and would not say whether they thought any employees were in on the scheme.

During Miller's trial last year, former employee Richard A. Chisholm recalled quitting after just three months. "I personally didn't see Mr. Miller purchase anything other than, you know, like, beers and stuff," he said.

But money was rolling in. A business analyst at Freddie Mac gave Miller $25,000, and a real estate agent handed over $60,000, trial testimony revealed. Then there were the struggling home-buyers, including the Verizon Center janitor who lost $7,200 and the security guard who lost $4,500.

Robert Debnam, a former manager at American Express and a full-time real estate investor, testified that he handed over $100,000 after meeting Miller and learning about the Queen Anne properties. Miller promised a 100 percent profit in 90 days, Debnam testified.

A month later, in February 2004, Miller asked for more cash. Debnam testified that he was reluctant to dig deeper because he hadn't received any money yet from his first investment. But Miller was persistent. " 'If you do it, then I will give you an even greater return,' " he quoted Miller as saying. Debnam gave Miller $43,000 more.

Debnam, who got back $10,000 from Miller after threatening to go to the media, declined to comment.