Cole

A jury convicted one-time business partners Kevin Charles Cole and Frank Anthony Robles of various felony offenses involving the sale of securities, including highly speculative ones, to more than a dozen elderly investors who lost an aggregate of more than $1 million.

With respect to 14 of these investors, Cole was found guilty of 14 counts of selling securities by means of false statements or omissions in violation of Corporations Code section 25401 and 14 counts of selling a security without a broker-dealer license in violation of section 25210. Robles was found guilty of 11 counts of each of these crimes involving 11 of the investors. The jury found that each defendant committed at least two felonies involving fraud or embezzlement of more than $500,000 (Pen. Code, § 186.11, subd. (a)(2)), and that the total aggregate victim losses as to each defendant exceeded $150,000 (Pen. Code, § 12022.6, subd. (a)(2)). Cole also was found guilty of two counts of theft from an elder (Pen. Code, § 368, subd. (d)), and one count of residential burglary (Pen. Code, §§ 459, 460). The trial court sentenced Cole to 17 years in state prison and Robles to 11 years eight months.

Cole…