Associate of Slain Executive Freed on Bail in Fraud Case
A business associate of slain Woodland Hills entrepreneur Christopher Rawlings was ordered released from jail Thursday on $50,000 bond, but not without some advice from the judge.
“I think the defendant is going to have to lower his sights from his leased BMW and get in touch with reality,” federal Magistrate Rosalyn M. Chapman said, referring to defendant John Charles Watson.
Watson is charged with money laundering and fraud in one of several telemarketing enterprises that prosecutors say were run by Rawlings and two other men.
Watson in court Tuesday said he had only a couple of hundred dollars and could not afford a lawyer. “Negotiating the end of your lease on your BMW is a first step,” Chapman told him.
Federal agents on Thursday released a photograph of Peter Aro, who is accused of running the telemarketing operations with Rawlings and Scott Courtney. Courtney is awaiting trial in an earlier case. An arrest warrant has been issued for Aro, but he has not been found.
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