Long sentence for Twin Cities man who 'left trail of tears' cheating women he met online

[TBO]

The Twin Cities man over the years posed as a U.S. Navy pilot, defense analyst, firefighter, medical doctor and professor.

 

Now Derek M. Alldred is now a verifiable federal inmate, thanks to a nearly quarter-century sentence for stealing large sums of money from more than two dozen women whom he met on dating websites.

 

Alldred, 47, was given 24 years, the maximum sentence allowed in federal court, in Sherman, Texas, Wednesday after pleading guilty in December to one count of mail fraud and two counts of aggravated identity fraud. He also was ordered to pay about $255,000 in restitution.

 

At least three of his victims are Minnesota women.

 

"This defendant left a trail of tears, emotional devastation, and financial ruin behind him," U.S. Attorney Joseph D. Brown said in announcing the sentence. "It is clear that he will never change, and we expect his sentence to reflect that. We are glad we were able to get some level of justice for these women."

 

In Minnesota, a Woodbury woman told police in 2016 that the man she knew as Richard Peterson was living with her and claimed to be a Navy officer. She said he perpetuated the deception with military clothing, certificates, awards and identification.

 

She was among many who spoke in the Texas courtroom during Alldred's sentencing Wednesday. A felony charge in her case is pending.

 

In 2015, Alldred was sentenced to felony theft by swindle in Ramsey County District Court, given a 15-month sentence and ordered to pay more than more than $4,500 in restitution after pleading guilty to cheating the St. Paul Hotel out of thousands of dollars in lodging, liquor, food and television services during a two-night stay for a woman he said was his wife and two supposed daughters.

 

Alldred claimed in June 2014 at check-in that he was a doctor, lost his wallet on an airplane and gave a fake name with a San Francisco address.

 

Authorities caught up to Alldred after the woman's father told police that she was dating a smooth-talking "scam artist" who gained access to her financial accounts, the criminal complaint read.

 

Alldred soon turned up at a Country Inn in White Bear Lake, trying to talk his way into a room without paying and identifying himself as "Dr. Derek Stevens," the complaint continued. White Bear Lake police arrested him.

 

The woman won a restraining order against Alldred later that summer, telling the court that he "infiltrated my personal email, phone [and] has sent messages to people [while] impersonating me. He forwarded all my phone calls to his own phone without my knowledge." She said Alldred's disruptive actions escalated "with my attempts to get away."

 

Public records show various addresses for Alldred in Minnesota, up and down the California coast and in Hawaii. He maintained one Minneapolis address from 1989 until 2003, two others in Wayzata, three more in Minneapolis and one as recently as late 2016 in Woodbury.

 

He made up various aliases playing off his birth name: Derek Peterson, Richard Peterson, Richard Alldrich, Derek Allored, among others, according to criminal court filings.

 

Alldred's penchant for duping women finally was thwarted after a woman in the Dallas area became suspicious, learned the real identity of the man she knew as Richard Tailor and went to police.

 

Investigators discovered that Alldred had charged more than $12,000 on her credit card and had purchases delivered to him at her residence. Among them were luxury items including Ray Ban sunglasses, a Hugo Boss suit and an Invicta gold watch.

 

While he was piling up charges on the one woman's credit card, he was in a relationship with another victim in Dallas and stealing from her as well.

 

He juggled the two relationships by telling one woman that he had to travel as a pilot and having the other woman pick him up at the airport.

 

By the time of his arrest in June 2017, authorities determined he had victimized at least 25 other women in California, Hawaii, Minnesota and Nevada.

 

Along with concocting Navy and defense expert credentials, Alldred also falsely claimed he was a professor at South Methodist University in Texas.

 

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[PBCounty]

Sometimes they just want to believe it anyway.  I know a guy who just tosses BS out there to younger girls.  He does really, really well.  I can see it on the faces of these chicks that they don't believe it, but they go along with it anyway.  A few weeks ago he told a waitress he owned Macy's.  I think even he was surprised that one worked.  He had her in the bathroom an hour later. 

[janice6]

I'll bet he listened closely to every one.

 

Too obscure?

[Walt Longmire]

A sucker born every minute.