TOPEKA — Ronald Morley was busted about 15 years ago for engaging in crooked Mexico real estate deals and received a lifetime ban from the state of Maryland from engaging in the securities and investment advising business.
That didn’t stop him from participating in a multistate Ponzi scheme that ripped off four Kansans of $845,900 between 2011 and 2013. The losses hit the victims hard, but that wasn’t the most alarming element of Morley’s criminal saga.
In 2016, Morley was charged in Kansas with 12 felony counts of securities fraud. Two years later, he entered a no contest plea on two felony counts. He hoped to avoid jail time, but a presumption written into Kansas law says defendants should be sentenced to prison if guilty of perpetuating fraud in excess of $25,000.
Morley’s victims, blue-collar folks and a pair of elderly siblings, asked a Shawnee County District Court judge for justice. They requested he be ordered to pay restitution. They directly or indirectly urged that Morley be imprisoned.
“I regret that you’re experiencing what you’re experiencing,” Morley told his victims in court. “I serve the same God as you do … and I hope you can find forgiveness in your heart.”
District Court Judge Mark Braun took Morley’s words to heart and let him walk. Braun, who has since retired from the branch, used his judicial authority to depart from state sentencing guidelines. He told Morley to serve 36 months of…
