Newport Beach Man Faces New Scam Charges : Investing: David O. Naulin is accused of commodities and mail fraud while serving time in a halfway house for running a phony securities operation.

A federal grand jury has charged a Newport Beach man with running a $1.5-million investment scam while he was serving a prison term for a previous stock fraud.

David O. Naulin, 34, was charged Monday with two counts of commodities fraud and one count of mail fraud.

Federal prosecutors contend that Naulin bilked investors while he was serving time in a halfway house for a $207,000 securities scam.

“He was only going to the halfway house at night. He was out during the day,” said Assistant U.S. Atty. James R. Asperger, explaining how Naulin allegedly scammed people a second time.

Naulin is now serving the rest of his prison sentence at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles.

Typically, a convict serves his prison time first and then is released to a halfway house.

But Asperger said a federal judge allowed Naulin to go to a halfway house after he claimed that he wanted to work to repay his victims. “He expressed extreme remorse at the sentencing and said he was starting a brand new business,” Asperger said. “(It) seemed reasonable.”

But a grand jury now says Naulin spent part of that time scamming a new group of investors. Prosecutors claim Naulin masqueraded as a member of the New York Futures Exchange and provided investors with phony account statements. Naulin spent the money he collected on himself rather than on commodities, prosecutors said.

Only about $200,000 of the $1.5 million remains.

One thing Naulin did not tell investors, prosecutors say, was that he had been convicted in 1989 for securities and mail fraud.

Naulin faces up to 15 years in prison and a $1.25-million fine on the latest charges.