Double Injustice

Between the time he was convicted and the time the government finally got around to sentencing him to prison, Mueller shamelessly borrowed a credit card from a friend to buy medicine for his wife, but ran up $6,000 in aircraft maintenance charges on the card, leaving the startled friend to pay. Bragging to one of his pals that the IRS had not yet figured out how to track sales made on eBay, the auction Web site, Mueller bought and sold vehicles, art, and various items, racking up tens of thousands in profits, which he kept in cash so that the government and his creditors would not grab it.

By the end of 1999, though, the government finally tired of Mueller's shell game. District Judge Martin J. Jenkins revoked the plea bargain agreement and sentenced Mueller to nine years and one month in prison, and to $26 million in restitution to his victims. Mueller has appealed the severity of the sentence. Even if he loses the appeal, with time off for good behavior, he could walk out of the federal correctional work camp in Sheridan, Ore., sometime in 2007.

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William Jewell has appealed to the victims who have sued him, saying he does not have the $5 million a judge has ordered him to pay, and begging them to individually accept $2,000 payments, and to drop their claims against him. Some of the victims have accepted that settlement; others, including Sheila Klopper, apparently do not believe Jewell's contention that he was just another victim of Mueller, and they are vowing to pursue the con man's father-in-law to the end.

Whoever wins the battle, one person will certainly benefit. Jeffry G. Locke, the bankruptcy court trustee who has be- come the bane of the victims of Edward Mueller, will receive 60 percent of any settlement.