Another Petro America defendant off to prison

The book is almost closed on the Petro America case, a gleaming local example of how some people will believe just about anything.

A federal judge in Kansas City on Friday sentenced Russell Hopkins to four years and three months in prison, plus more than $600,000 in restitution.

Hopkins was from Alabama, showing how far-flung the Kansas City scam became before federal investigators swooped in.

Petro America was the brainchild of Kansas City, Kansas, man Owen Hawkins, who managed to convince investors that his multibillion-dollar minerals and natural resources company based in Kansas City was worth the investment (a summary of the case is here).

Despite cease and desist orders from both state and federal regulators to stop selling Petro America’s bogus stocks, Hawkins and eight others managed to cull millions from investors who thought due diligence was a waste of time.

Hopkins, 51, was one of Hawkins’ best stock promoters. He found willing audiences through churches to sell the unregistered stock for upwards of $24 a share, generating more than $600,000 in income for Hopkins. 

Hopkins’ conviction about closes the book in this infamous scam. Most other defendants have received their judgments. Petro America’s flashy website has finally been pulled down, and nobody appears to be still behind this flimflam idea.

That is, except for the enigmatic and indefatigable Hawkins, who is still flooding federal courts with his jailhouse attorney-style filings that still claim Petro America is a hot company, if only the feds would leave it alone.