TV personality named in investment scheme
Longtime local news anchor Larry Carroll was indicted Monday on charges of fraud and six other criminal counts following a three-month undercover investigation by the San Bernardino County sheriff’s office.
The seven-count indictment stemmed from an alleged investment scheme that San Bernardino County prosecutors said Carroll, currently with KCBS Los Angeles, and two others were promoting between September 1998 and last month. Carroll’s home and office at KCBS in Hollywood were searched by San Bernardino County authorities last Friday.
Carroll could not be reached for comment Monday.
A statement issued by KCBS said: “We are all concerned about the nature of the allegations that have been leveled at (Carroll). Quite understandably, Larry has chosen to take some time off from his duties at the station in order to devote his full energies to responding to these charges.”
Indicted along with Carroll were Michael Alfred Patterson and Ronald Bryant Long. Arraignment for the trio was set for Wednesday in San Bernardino Superior Court.
Carroll and his codefendants face a maximum of five years in state prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted on the two stiffest felony counts of fraud and conspiracy to commit a crime.
Details about the case were sketchy Monday, but sources said the indictments stemmed from the trio’s alleged efforts to recruit investors for a concert promotion venture. Prosecutors said the level of coin involved ranged widely from $400 to $2 million.
According to the indictment, the defendants had claimed that investments in the venture “would yield a profit of 47% per week with no risk,” and that other types of investments could “yield profits of 1,000% in a five-day period with no risk.”
The indictment claimed that Carroll solicited an investment in a Nov. 6, 1998 telephone call with Terry Christiansen, whose complaint to San Bernardino authorities sparked the initial investigation.
The indictment also noted that defendant Long had previously been convicted in California on criminal charges of grand theft and making false statements in connection with the sale of a security.
Carroll has been an anchor with KCBS since 1995. In the 1970s and ’80s, he spent 17 years with KABC, and also served stints with NBC News, and KCAL Los Angeles.
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