Fraudster sentenced to prison

Chase Brown, a former Rochester High School football player who played on a state championship team, then bilked people and companies throughout the nation, is headed to prison for three years.

Brown, 21, already was on state probation for writing $17,000 worth of bad checks in Sangamon County when he went on the spree last year that earned him a 37-month sentence Wednesday from U.S. District Court Judge Richard Mills, who observed that rarely does a person so young land in federal court for wire fraud. A restitution hearing is set for next month. Brown, who pleaded guilty, likely will be ordered to repay victims who lost well into the six figures, according to court documents.
Brown pleaded guilty to schemes that included selling medical equipment that was never delivered. He used purloined credit card information to buy a Jeep Wrangler. He bounced a $375,000 check to a hospital, which ultimately retrieved all but $10,000 worth of medical gear that Brown had picked up. He lied on a credit card application to receive a six-figure line of credit, which he used to buy aviation fuel  and jet set until he reached the card limit – the tab stretched to $234,000, according to charging papers.

“I’d love to go back to school and major in business administration, your honor,” Brown told the judge before sentence was pronounced. Speaking from the Macon County Jail, Brown during the hearing held remotely also said that he’s built a strong relationship with God since his arrest last spring in Florida. “I promise to be nothing short of an asset to my community and a more (spiritual) man to serve the good of my people and the good of humanity,” he told Mills.

The judge did not sound convinced. Johanes Christian Maliza, Brown’s lawyer, had asked for 18 months; U.S. assistant attorney Tim Bass recommended 46 months. Mills told Brown to take advantage of educational and vocational programs while incarcerated. He warned Brown that prison administrators were accustomed to his kind, and so he should be earnest.

“You are clever, and you are smart,” Mills told Brown. “And you are going to try to work the system, as you already have.”

Mills said he doesn’t often see defendants like Brown.

“He turned 21 three months ago, and is less than three years out of high school,” the judge said. “It appears that he comes from a normal middle-class family, like most of us present here, I believe, which is unlike many defendants that we have here in federal court. Also, this type of fraud and the extent of fraud is not something that we often see in the central district of Illinois.”

At least twice, Mills brought up Brown’s 2019 guilty plea in Sangamon County Circuit Court.

“The overriding factor in this case is that Mr. Chase Brown committed this offense while on probation for another fraud that was committed only a year to 18 months earlier,” Mills said. “Now, Mr. Chase Brown is accountable for losses of between $550,000 and $1.5 million. … You didn’t learn the lesson – you almost act like a smart aleck.

“This is unbelievable.”

Contact Bruce Rushton at [email protected].