By Heather J. Carlson
hcarlson@postbulletin.com
HAYFIELD — A sentencing date has been set for an insurance salesman who plead guilty to swindling his neighbors out of $1.98 million.
Dale Eugene Schlichting, 50, of rural Austin, will be sentenced at 3 p.m. June 12 by Judge Paul A. Magnuson in U.S. District Court in St. Paul. Federal prosecutors have recommended the maximum sentence of 10 years and one month in prison.
Schlichting plead guilty in U.S. District Court in December to three counts of mail fraud and three counts of money laundering.
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It has been more than a year since federal investigators raided Schlichting’s Hayfield business.
According to court documents, the owner of DSI Agency sold bogus investments to 92 residents from 1999 to 2006. The investors were told to write checks made out to two shell companies. Schlichting used the money for his personal use as part of a "ponzi scheme."
He had previously had his license to sell securities terminated by the National Association of Securities Dealers in 1998, and his insurance license was revoked by the state in 2003.
As part of the sentencing, victims will be able to address Schlichting and the court.
