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LOGAN, Utah (AP) -- Victims of Paul Douglas Jensen's multimillion-dollar swindle and his relatives had their say, but the Smithfield man's prison sentence remained unchanged.
Jensen, 51, pleaded guilty last March to reduced charges and was sentenced to two consecutive terms of one to 15 years for communications fraud and issuing a bad check and a concurrent sentence of up to five years on another communications fraud charge.
The prison sentence was stayed pending a 60-day diagnostic evaluation at the prison and Jensen was back in court Monday for a review hearing.
Jensen was accused of bilking 68 Cache County investors of $9.8 million. He admitted falsifying clients' investment statements to reflect an increase in funds, when money actually was being lost.
Most of the money was lost through his investment firm called Interactive Brokers, which he ran out of his home. The company had no connection to Interactive Brokers LLC, a Connecticut-based electronic brokerage firm.
Many of Jensen's victims lost hundreds of thousands of dollars and some lost millions.
"This guy is truly a snake," one victim said Monday. "He does not deserve to walk and breathe in America or in Cache Valley, the most beautiful valley in the world."
"In my mind what Mr. Jensen needs is not just time," the man's son added. "He needs to let us farm boys handle it like in the old days."
One Logan resident who lost millions investing with Jensen called him "a liar and a con artist from the beginning."
Jensen said, "I deeply regret what happened to the many victims of my crimes. I'm sorry. ... Unfortunately for us, all that is done is done. There's no turning back the hands of time or the crimes."
Jensen's father stood up for his son against those who called him a snake, and pleading with others to forgive him.
"I agree with most all of them and the hardships they're facing," he said. "I've undergone it also, maybe even more because I lost a son.
Jensen's ex-wife chastised the victims for gullibly investing so much money with him and asked them to change their hatred to compassion and love.
"What you've done here Mr. Jensen is enslave these people," said 1st District Court Judge Gordon J. Low. "You've stolen their lives from them and I can't give it back."
(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
