A man who claimed he lived in Murfreesboro and sold insurance and investments and was later convicted of fraud has filed an appeal in Nashville. The petitioner says that he received ineffective assistance of counsel, among other things. The courts did not agree.

In 2006 Robert D. Mendenhall pled guilty to two counts of theft of property over $60,000, one count of securities fraud by a device or scheme, and securities fraud by sale of an unregistered security. He was then sentenced to spend 40-years behind bars after allegedly swindling Vickie Jacobs.  

Looking back, Mendenhall met victim Ms. Jacobs in 2002. At the time that he met Ms. Jacobs she had recently suffered two personal tragedies in the form of the death of her husband from cancer and the death of her daughter who was killed in an accident with an intoxicated driver. According to court documents, as a result of those tragedies, Ms. Jacobs was in a great state of grief and she was looking for help to manage her finances because she did have assets from her and her husband’s property and also from a life insurance policy.

After investing some $300,000, she decided that she wanted to pull out. She was unable to locate Mendenhall at his reported home in Murfreesboro or anywhere for that matter. She contacted the Tennessee Securities Division and an investigation ensued eventually leading to the suspect’s conviction.

After Mendenhall was convicted and after his appeal, the courts denied his petition for post-conviction relief. His sentence ends in 2042, but will be eligible for parole in year 2018. Today, Mendenhall is 48-years of age.

Source:

Case: No. 2006-A-231, 2006-C-2134