New Charges Face Accused Swindler : Phony Passports, Loan and Plane Deals Linked to Man

An accused real estate swindler found with documents last March that identified him as 28 different people faces new criminal charges involving phony passports, a $1.25-million loan and airplanes he leased to a federal law enforcement agency, attorneys said Wednesday.

Thomas Townsend Stancil, 37, also known as Brian T. Hardy, was arraigned Wednesday in U.S. District Court on two charges of making false statements on a passport application and one count of possessing false Social Security identification cards, his attorney confirmed.

He remains in federal custody in lieu of $50,000 bail, the lawyer, Harland W. Braun, said.

Stancil was charged Tuesday in Los Angeles Municipal Court with using false identification papers and false financial statements to obtain a $1.25-million loan, under the name Brian Hardy, from First Interstate Bank, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Adalbert T. Botello.

Leased Planes to U.S.

With the money, Botello said, Stancil purchased four small, stripped-down airplanes that he subsequently leased to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. As part of the alleged fraud, Stancil overstated the value of the planes on loan documents, Botello charged.

In a second incident, Stancil is accused of using the allegedly false documents to secure a $100,000 line of credit last year from First Pacific Bank, Botello said.

Stancil, who had been going by the name of Brian Hardy for years in many of his extensive Los Angeles real estate dealings, was arrested March 1 for allegedly using fraudulent means to obtain a second trust deed on an expensive Brentwood home. Stancil allegedly used the deed to secure a $250,000 loan from the Bank of San Pedro.

The day of his arrest, investigators for the district attorney’s office discovered 28 “identity packets” in an office that Stancil maintained in Marina del Rey and in the Brentwood home where he had been living.

The packets included driver’s licenses, birth certificates, library cards and aviation credentials, authorities said. Thirteen packets were described as complete, while the rest contained only a few documents, Botello said. The photographs on all the papers depicted the same person--Stancil--but each bore a different name.

Purpose Still Mystery

Botello said authorities still do not know why Stancil put together the allegedly false identification papers or what he intended to do with them.

“He’s a wheeler-dealer,” Botello said, noting that Stancil, under the name Brian Hardy, appears to have significant real estate holdings in the Los Angeles area.

Braun, Stancil’s attorney, declined to comment on the allegations against his client.

Little is known about Stancil other than that he was born in East Germany and became a naturalized citizen of the United States at the age of 11, sources familiar with the case told The Times. An attorney who had represented a man he knew as Brian Hardy in several civil lawsuits told The Times in March that Hardy is a real estate investor and syndicator who has lived in the Los Angeles area about 10 years.

Two Counts of Grand Theft

Even though Stancil had made payments on the loans from First Interstate and First Pacific, he is charged with two counts of grand theft because he obtained the money by using false documents, Botello said.

The banks’ “reliance on false information constitutes the crime,” he said.

Botello said the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is still in possession of the airplanes but added that he does not know where or for what purpose the planes are being used. Agency spokesmen were not available Wednesday.

Stancil is to return to Los Angeles Municipal Court on Aug. 16 for a bail review.