Swindler Gets 4 Years in Prison for Scam

An Agoura man convicted of swindling $68,000 from two retired Westlake Village women by telling them he would invest their money in rare coins was sentenced Tuesday to four years and four months in state prison.

Terry James Hall, 51, was taken into custody after his sentencing hearing in Ventura County Superior Court. He is expected to serve time at a minimum-security prison.

Hall was convicted in August on five counts of grand theft and burglary in connection with a money-making scheme targeting two women he knew through a Thousand Oaks church, Deputy Dist. Atty. Mark Aevis said.

Hall was charged with residential and commercial burglary because he met one woman at her home and the other at a restaurant with the intention of taking their money, Aevis said.

Presenting himself as a broker of rare coins, Hall told the women that he would match their investments with money from other buyers to purchase a coin and then sell it for a profit.

Hall took $50,000 from one woman and $10,000 from the other, who later invested an additional $8,000, Aevis said.

In one case, Hall told his victim that he had identified a rare 1888 gold piece. He told her the investment would yield a 20% return in four to six weeks, Aevis said.

But during the trial, the prosecutor argued that Hall’s sales pitch was a ruse to pay off personal debt.

“Hall owed over $50,000 to friends,” Aevis said Tuesday. Bank records showed that Hall wrote checks to creditors before meeting the women and then used their money to repay the debt.

“He was robbing Peter to pay Paul,” Aevis said. “He was a one-man Ponzi scheme.”

The women have gotten a portion of their money back. A restitution hearing is set for Oct. 15.

Hall’s attorney declined to comment on the case.