FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 8, 2016
Contact: James Hallinan (505) 660-2216
Albuquerque, NM – Today in Second Judicial District Court, Judge Alisa Hadfield sentenced defendant John Darren Meister to ten years in the Department of Corrections for violating probation, followed by two and a half years of supervised probation. During this probationary period, following his release from prison, Meister must continue to make restitution payments to the two victims. In June 2015, Meister pled guilty to felony racketeering, fraud and money laundering. These crimes arose from a series of incidents in 2013 and 2014 where he stole money from two individuals, falsely representing to these victims that their money would be used to invest in various, non-existent businesses.
“It continues to remain a priority of my administration to protect our vulnerable elderly population and all hard working New Mexicans who fall victim to financial predators,” said Attorney General Balderas.
In one case, Meister used his position as a FedEx delivery man to bankrupt one elderly victim over the course of a year and a half. In the other incident, Meister convinced a high school friend to empty his savings and take out title loans to fund a fake auto-recovery business.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General Zach Jones.
See attached for a photo of Meister.
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