Tue, 09/08/2015 - 4:15pm

Lynda Clancy

Rusty Brace is wheeled to his car by his attorney Peter DeTroy May 29 in Portland following his appearance in First District Court. (Photo by Lynda Clancy)

PORTLAND — A pre-sentencing conference to discuss punishment for Rusty Brace has been scheduled for Oct. 1, in Judge George Singal’s chambers at U.S. District Court in Portland.

Brace’s sentencing had originally been scheduled for Sept. 18, but in early August that date had been extended to early October, due to the timing of an attorney’s August vacation.

On Aug. 12, Brace’s attorney, Peter DeTroy, asked the court to extend the sentencing date, saying he had received the Presentence Report by email late in the afternoon Aug. 7. He was out of the office from Aug. 1-29, and said he would not: “have an opportunity to review the report with my client prior to my return to the office on Aug. 31. Given the nature of the offense and my client’s circumstances, time will be required to review and respond to the information contained in the report.”

DeTroy said Assistant U.S. Attorney Donald Clark, who took the fraud case against Brace on behalf of the Internal Revenue Service and Federal Bureau of Investigations, did not object to the request.

On Friday, Sept. 4, DeTroy responded to the Presentence Report, and subsequently, the Oct. 1 pre-sentence conference was scheduled.

Brace, of Rockport, pleaded guilty May 29 to three felony charges: Mail fraud affecting a financial institution, and two tax frauds that include making false statements to the Internal Revenue Service.

The pre-sentencing report has been completed by the U.S. Probation Office. The sentencing analysis provides the court with context with which to sentence a defendant. The nonbinding report has a 44-day deadline, and involve calculations that ultimately produce a “range of sentences from x to y,” said DeTroy, last spring.

On June 24, Attorney DeTroy requested that the court extend a pre-sentencing report deadline by 21 days, saying Brace had been unable to meet with the court’s pretrial service officer until June 19 due to health issues and travel limitations.

“Donald Clark, the AUSA handling this matter for the government, has no objection to this request,” wrote DeTroy, in his first request. “The Pretrial Service Officer responsible for this report, Annie Hodgdon, also wishes to have the additional requested time to submit the PSR.”

Then, DeTroy made his second delay request in mid-August.

The report had been sent to DeTroy, as well as the U.S. Attorney's office. Both attorneys had the right to object, if they considered the calculations were wrong.

Following the hearing, Judge George Singal will decide how to punish the 81 year-old Brace, who, for at least 15 years, siphoned charity donations into his own bank account at The First, in Camden, and used the funds for his personal benefit.

Brace faces up to 30 years in prison, five years of supervised release and a fine of twice the gain or loss on the fraud charge, and up to three years in prison, one year of supervised release and a $100,000 fine on the tax charges.

Working over the winter, Federal Bureau of Investigations and Internal Revenue Service investigators determined that over the last five years alone, Brace moved between $176,000 to $334,800 per year into his own bank account, money that had been intended for UMCC. In total, he moved more than $4.6 million over 16 years into his account. The IRS is limited to its own statute of limitations, so did not go back in forensics earlier than 2008.

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• United Midcoast Charities enthusiastic about future

• Rusty Brace asks for more time in UMCC case as investigation continues

• The First discloses amounts in Brace accounts

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