10-22-04 -- Harris, William Oscar -- Sentencing -- News Release
"Moors" Member William Oscar Harris Sentenced to 15 1/2 Years In Prison for $17 Million Money Order Scam
CAMDEN - William Oscar Harris was sentenced to 188 months in federal prison today for operating an organization that passed more than $17 million worth of fictitious money orders that appeared to be issued by the federal government, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced.
U.S. District Judge Jerome B. Simandle, who presided over the six-week trial, also ordered Harris to serve five years of supervised release upon the completion of his prison sentence and to pay $17,500 in fines, along with $92,000 in restitution. At the sentencing hearing, Judge Simandle noted that Harris' prison sentence would run consecutive to his current service of time in prison based on an order of civil contempt issued by Judge Simandle for Harris' harassing financial threats against government officials involved in his case. As of today, Harris remains in civil contempt, and is not getting credit against his prison sentence on the criminal convictions. Judge Simandle said that Harris could get out of civil contempt if he signs an affidavit renouncing past, current, and future financial threats against those officials. If Harris actually renounces those threats, he will then begin serving his criminal sentence.
On Tuesday, Oct. 19, Judge Simandle sentenced co-defendant Robert McCurdy to 86 months in federal prison. Currently, McCurdy is being held in federal detention on the contempt order and has not begun to serve his prison sentence.
On July 2, after 11 hours of deliberations, the jury convicted the five male members of a group known as the "Moors" of all counts contained in a 25-count Indictment that was unsealed with the arrest of nine of the group's members on May 9, 2003. The four female defendants have all pleaded guilty to misprision of a felony - which makes it a crime to wilfully fail to disclose to law enforcement the commission of another crime. They are all awaiting sentencing.
During the course of the six-week trial, the jury was presented with evidence and heard testimony that described an elaborate fraud by the group of individuals working in the Camden and Atlantic City area who produced false money orders and submitted them as payment for mortgages, auto loans, and other personal items, such as tickets aboard the Concorde supersonic jet. The Indictment also describes the defendants as members of an organization known as the Al Moroccan Empire or Moors. As Moors, the defendants claimed that they were not subject to the laws of the United States. As the Indictment alleges, they regularly met to discuss the fraudulent scheme and ways to avoid law enforcement detection.
According to evidence and testimony presented during the trial, between May 2000 and December 2001 the defendants, using the services of a commercial printer, created thousands of fictitious money orders that purported to be authorized by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and the U.S. Department of Treasury (Treasury). According to the Indictment, the defendants contrived a sophisticated scheme to make the bogus money orders appear to be legitimate securities of the DOT and Treasury. For example, the defendants cited various legal citations, such as the Uniform Commercial Code and Congressional enactments, to give the appearance of legal legitimacy. In many instances the defendants included written instructions on how to process the bogus money orders to create the impression that they had in fact been issued by the DOT and Treasury.
The Indictment states that the defendants' objectives were to enrich themselves by using fraudulent money orders to payoff personal debts. According to trial testimony and evidence presented the defendants sent the money orders to financial institutions, companies and individuals throughout the country. The defendants passed the Money orders to payoff debts for home mortgages, auto loans, personal loans and invoices totaling more than $17 million.
The long-term investigation was a cooperative effort involving the FBI, Secret Service and the U.S. Department of Transportation.
The jury convicted all five defendants of Count One of the Indictment charging each with conspiracy to produce and pass false and fictitious money orders. The jury also convicted on each of the remaining 23 counts which charge individual defendants with submitting specific fraudulent money orders. The defendants charged in Counts 2 through 24 are as follows:
Judge Simandle has schedule sentencing hearing for the remaining defendants as follows:
Parole has been abolished in the federal system. Under U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, defendants who are given custodial terms must serve nearly all of that time.
Christie credited Special Agents of the FBI Atlantic City Resident Office, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Joseph Billy, Jr.; the Secret Service Philadelphia Field Office, Special Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge James J. Borasi; and, the U.S. Department of Transportation, Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Ned Schwartz, with developing the case against the defendants.
The Government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys R. Stephen Stigall of the Criminal Division in Camden and Lee D. Rudy of the Criminal Division in Trenton.
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Defense Attorneys:
Harris - Edward F Borden, Jr., Esq. Cherry Hill
Outterbridge - Rocco C. Cipparone, Esq. Haddon Heights
Lundy - Troy A. Archie, Esq. Camden
Wooten - R. Louis Gallagher, II, Esq. Hainesport
McCurdy - Charles P. Sandilos, Esq. Haddon Heights