Local News in Brief : Swindler, 75, Sentenced

Despite a plea for leniency because of his age, a 75-year-old former bank president and church leader was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison Wednesday for swindling elderly investors out of more than $1 million in a real estate loan scheme.

But U.S. District Judge A. Andrew Hauk said he would consider reducing the sentence if the defendant, O. Monroe Marlowe of Van Nuys, pays $694,000 in restitution to his victims and a $30,000 fine to the government.

“You have the key to your imprisonment in your hands. . . ,” the judge told Marlowe.

Marlowe pleaded guilty Feb. 1 to 12 counts of mail fraud. He admitted to bilking about 100 elderly investors out of $1.5 million by operating a “Ponzi” scheme, making high interest payments totaling $354,000 to early investors in the loan program with the money of later investors.

Assistant U.S. Atty. David A. Katz said Marlowe fled the country with the bulk of the money. He has been in custody since he was arrested last July in West Germany, ending a 10-month flight through seven nations.

Many of the investors knew Marlowe as the one-time president of two San Fernando Valley banks and as an investment counselor active in the First Baptist Church of Van Nuys and Faith Evangelical Church in Chatsworth.