Second Dallas Businessman Headed to Prison for Land-flipping Fraud on Interstate 35

A second Dallas real estate man was sentenced Friday to federal prison for a land-flipping scheme using inside help from the Texas Department of Transportation to profit from selling tracts along Interstate 35E .Kevin Bollman, 49, will spend 15 months in prison under an agreement with the U.S. attorney's office for defrauding TxDOT out of $12.9 million.Bollman also was ordered to pay $1.5 million in restitution to TxDOT.Last month, Bollman's partner in the Denton County land deals, Wade Blackburn, 35, was sentenced to one year and one day in prison and ordered to pay $1 million in restitution.Like in Blackburn's case, Bollman could have gotten more prison time due to the size of that dollar figure. But Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Eason said the case will serve as a deterrent to other real estate speculators who are thinking about cheating to make a buck. The message, he said, is that you will go to prison and be a felon."They're on notice now," Eason told U.S. District Judge Marcia A. Crone.Bollman did not address the judge during the brief hearing. His attorney, Michael Gibson, declined to comment.Eason also said it's the first time in recent memory that TxDOT is getting money back for a fraud committed against the agency. He said TxDOT approved of the sentences.Both men pleaded guilty earlier this year to conspiracy to commit mail fraud in connection with the land deals.  Continue reading...