DANIEL L. CURTIN, 56, of Olympia, Washington was sentenced today to fourteen months in prison, three years of supervised release and $85,000 in restitution for Mail Fraud in connection with a scheme to raid his clients' retirement funds. In sentencing CURTIN, U.S. District Court Judge Ronald B. Leighton told him "A crime like this tears at the fabric of our society. It makes ordinary people afraid to engage in financial transactions and to employ professionals to assist them in managing their retirement funds."

CURTIN pleaded guilty to Mail Fraud on January 9, 2004. He admitted that as the owner of D. L. Curtin and Associates in Olympia he acted as a financial advisor. His clients included a couple from Chehalis, Washington. CURTIN convinced the two retired school teachers to transfer two Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) to another IRA-type plan. Then without their knowledge or permission took out loans for himself against the accounts. CURTIN submitted a change of address form on the clients' behalf so that all documents and correspondence on the account would be mailed only to him. Ultimately, CURTIN transferred the funds to an account he controlled and had checks mailed to him that he used for his own expenses. In all he took $85,807 from the couple's account.

In asking for the prison time Assistant United States Attorney Kurt Hermanns wrote "What Mr. CURTIN did here was particularly sinister. He stole the retirement funds of two school teachers and covered it up through an elaborate ruse of money shifting, forged documents and diverted mail."

The case was investigated by the FBI and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kurt Hermanns. For additional information please contact Emily Langlie, Public Affairs Officer for the United States Attorney's Office, Western District of Washington at (206) 553-4110.

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