Ventura County – Imagine working your entire life to save enough money for a comfortable retirement, and when its time to enjoy that money, it’s somehow “gone”, lost among the swirling vicissitudes of today’s volatile investment environment.
That can happen. Not all investments are winners. But neither are all investments losers, which is undoubtedly what led the relatives of an 89-year old Newbury Park retiree in January to notify law enforcement of suspected wrongdoing at the hands of the alleged victim’s professional financial planner, Rod Scott Hormell, a 56-year old resident of Newbury Park. The call to authorities was inspired by a press release issued by the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office regarding an earlier 2013 arrest of Hormell, identifying him as currently on felony probation for Elder Abuse.
According to Ventura County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Sgt. William Therrien, the VCSD’s Major Crimes Unit and the Department of Business Oversight began an investigation of allegations of a second incident of embezzlement of funds from another elderly client, with specific focus upon the recent history of transactions performed by Hormell on behalf of this second potential victim.
During the course of the new investigation, the Major Crimes Unit detectives “developed sufficient probable cause” arrest Hormell once again on charges of Financial Elder Abuse and Offering or Selling Securities.
Hormell, who advertises himself as having more than 29 years of experience as a financial professional, worked through ESP Financial Services and claims to be a “registered Investment Adviser Representative.” ESP might have been helpful in realizing that repeated criminal activity leads to a stay at Ventura County Jail, where Hormell now resides.
