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Covering the Bitterroot Valley – “Where Montana Begins!” – Established 1985 – Locally Owned & Independent
Stevensville Parade of Lights
’ ! l a c o L t
a t s e B e h ‘T Volume XXXVII, Number 20
Dec. 3 • 6:30 pm Decorate your car or truck for Car Parade Call Liz for info 406-880-2007
Wednesday, December 1, 2021
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Disbarred attorney sentenced for fraud by Michael Howell Former Stevensville attorney Ronald Dean Lords, who last July admitted to defrauding investors and to evading income taxes in a real estate investment scheme in which he lost more than $1 million in the futures market, was sentenced this month to three years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. “Lords used his attorney-client relationship to gain access to victims’ money and then abused their trust to gamble away their money in the futures market. Lords also tried to cheat on his income taxes by failing to declare investors’ money as income. The U.S. Attorney’s Office and our law enforcement partners will continue to catch and convict white collar
criminals, hold them accountable and seek justice for victims,” said Acting
“
Eagles Landing Legal Services, PC, as well as a licensed realtor and
Lords used his attorney-client relationship to gain access to victims’ money and then abused their trust to gamble away their money in the futures market...” -- Acting U.S. Attorney Leif M. Johnson
U.S. Attorney Leif M. Johnson in a press release. The case was investigated by the FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Racicot. The government alleged that Lords was a lawyer, who operated
general contractor, who operated Eagles Landing Construction, Inc. The construction company purported to develop real property and build homes. From June 2011 to September 2018, in Ravalli County, Lords defrauded several victims by convincing them to invest money in
Look who was in town?
Santa Claus and his elf were making the rounds in downtown Hamilton on Saturday, spreading good cheer and candy canes. Photo by Victoria Howell.
his construction company. Lords told them he would make monthly interest payments, use the money to build homes and repay the money after the homes were sold. Lords said he would return the victims’ money within 30 days of any request. Instead of using the money to fund construction projects as promised, Lords used a portion of the new money to make interest payments to prior investors and lost the majority of the funds in the futures market. When some victims demanded their principal back, Lords admitted he lost more than $1 million in the futures market and did not have their money. The government also alleged that Lords failed to declare $432,608 he received from several victims in 2015 as “other income” on his taxes, resulting in unpaid taxes of $152,734 for that year. Initially charged with 19 counts – six for wire fraud, nine for money laundering and four for filing false tax returns – Lords was facing a maximum 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release on the wire fraud charge; 10 years in prison, a $250,00 fine and three years of supervised release on the money laundering charge and three years in prison, a $100,000 fine and one year of supervised release on the false tax returns charge. At the sentencing hearing on November 10, however, U.S. District Court Judge Donald Molloy dismissed all but three of the counts, and sentenced Lords on only one count each for fraud, money laundering and filing false tax returns. He was sentenced to serve three years on each count with the sentences running concurrently. According to an article in the Billings Gazette, at the sentencing hearing Lords apologized to the court for his actions and his attorney noted that he had made significant strides in repaying a handful of victims. It also mentions that victim impact statements were given by two of the 14 people that Lords took money from. Stan Hendrickson is quoted as saying “I truly believe the man has no moral conscience and should be sentenced accordingly.” Lords has been disbarred from practicing law in Montana. He is ordered to not engage in any gambling or wagering activities when released from prison. He is also prohibited from entering casinos.
Florence glass blower creates fragile beauty by Victoria Howell
Lisa Tate was always an artist but she didn’t start out as a glass blower. She was an engraver, mostly engraving on cut crystal. But she always loved cameo glass, also called Roman glass. According to Wikipedia, cameo glass is a luxury form of glass art produced by cameo glass engraving or carving through fused layers of differently colored glass to produce designs, usually with white opaque glass figures and motifs on a dark-colored background. The technique is first seen in ancient Roman art of about 30 BC, where it was an alternative to the more luxurious engraved gem vessels in cameo style that used naturally layered semi-precious gemstones such as onyx and agate. Glass allowed consistent and predictable colored layers, even for round objects. Tate wanted to learn how to make those beautiful pieces. She tried to buy glass blowing blanks from other glass blowers, but there were too many flaws in the glass for the type of work she wanted to do, she said. “I got frustrated,” she said. “I realized I needed to learn how to blow my own glass.”
She took a two-week class at which the instructor told her it takes about 10 years to become proficient at glass blowing. Tate continued doing it for fun, and 10 years later, “I’m actually pretty good,” she said. Tate grew up in Missoula and always planned to move back after years of having a glass blowing studio in Boise, Idaho. A couple years after moving back to Montana, she was able to buy her Florence home and set up a shop with state-of-the-art equipment, based on the knowledge and recommendations that master glass blowers have shared with her over the years. Tate has a background in non-profit management and is currently the fulltime Director of the National Museum of Forest Service History in Missoula. She is just completing a capital campaign to raise $10.5 million to build a world class facility. She is also a memSee GLASS, page 2
Lisa Tate holds up one of her signature pieces at her Florence showroom: a bowl with a “carved” gingko pattern. Photo by Aubrey Howell.