Actions

Chesterfield man gets prison time for fraud charges; must pay $600,000

Posted at 4:06 PM, Jul 11, 2018
and last updated 2018-07-11 16:55:26-04

RICHMOND, Va. — A Chesterfield man was sentenced on federal charges for defrauding approximately 51 customers of more than $600,000.

Timothy Scott Wenk, 50, the former owner of Premier Consulting, pleaded guilty in December to federal wire fraud.

On Wednesday a dozen victims testified at Wenk’s sentencing. The judge sentenced Wenk to 12 years in federal prison. Wenk was also ordered to pay $606,044 in restitution.

According to court documents, Timothy Scott Wenk, 51, of Chesterfield County, operated several businesses, including of Premier Consulting Services, Capital Business Services and Premier Credit Consultants, which purported to offer a variety of financial services, including mortgage finance and credit repair services.

Timothy S. Wenk (PHOTO: Chesterfield Police)

Wenk offered to connect victims who had credit problems to private lenders and “hard money lenders” who would be sources of financing for mortgages for victims who would be unable to obtain more conventional financing.

In many instances, Wenk claimed to be working on victims’ behalf to help them bring home sales to closing, rectify tax liens, and provide other real estate related financial consulting and services.

While Wenk’s relationship with each victim and the misrepresentations he made to them was unique, the evidence in the case showed a recurrent theme where Wenk received thousands of dollars for which he did little to nothing in return, according to United States Attorney G. Zachary Terwilliger.

Wenk introduced himself to many of his victims as Timothy Scott so that they could not be able to research his criminal history, which included over 20 felony convictions, many of which for fraud-related offenses, Terwilliger said. In addition to the 12-year sentence imposed, the sentencing judge ordered Wenk to pay victims a total of $606,044.99 in restitution.

In March 2017, Wenk was arrested by Chesterfield police who said he took more than $100,000 from five victims and believed there may more victims.

Before being arrested on federal charges, Wenk faced five counts of obtaining money under false pretenses in Chesterfield County, but they were dismissed.

At the time of those initial charges, Wenk denied any wrongdoing and said he was “adamant there is no basis for these charges.”

CBS6-News-at-4pm-and-Jennifer-Hudson-480x360.jpg

Entertainment

Watch 'The Jennifer Hudson Show' weekdays at 3 p.m. on CBS 6!

📱 Download CBS 6 News App
The app features breaking news alerts, live video, weather radar, traffic incidents, closings and delays and more.