The common-law husband of convicted serial ‘swindler’ Desiree Boltos has been sentenced to 125 years in prison for his role in a scam to steal money and property from senior citizens in Texas.
Paul Hill pleaded guilty to several charges after jumping bail in Tarrant County and fleeing to Las Vegas, where he assumed a false name.
Hill was arrested in Las Vegas in 2019 on suspicion of involvement in robbing businesses. Hill gave his name as John Ray and was booked under that name.
Investigators soon learned that Ray was actually Paul Hill and had a warrant for failing to appear in Tarrant County. Hill was also under order not to leave the state of Texas.
The sentence handed down by Tarrant County Judge Robb Catalano addressed numerous charges against Hill. Catalano gave Hill ten years for jumping bail, ten years for money laundering, twenty years for property theft, and eighty-five years for involvement in organized crime.
The sentences will run concurrently, ensuring that the 40-year-old Hill will likely die in prison.
“This should serve as a warning to those who exploit our senior citizens,” Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney Sharen Wilson said in a press release. “We are prosecuting these cases and seeking the maximum penalty.”
Hill and Boltos ran a scam in which the common-law couple defrauded seniors. Boltos often introduced Hill as her brother to senior men with whom she formed romantic relationships.
The couple would then swindle the seniors of cash and property. Scams even went so far that Boltos married one of the victims before he passed away.
The couple is accused of stealing as much as $3 million, scamming at least six men and one woman, between 2011 and 2017 when they were arrested. Boltos was sentenced in 2018 to a total of 263 years in prison and was ordered to pay restitution of $60,000.
Shortly after the courts convicted Boltos, authorities in Tarrant County issued an indictment for Hill’s arrest. Hill jumped bail and fled the state but was later arrested by Las Vegas Police in February 2019.
His trial was delayed due to his fleeing the state and the effects of Covid-19 closures on the courts.
During his trial, victims of the couple testified about the amounts of money and methods the two used to convince victims to give them money. Several of the victims had their entire life savings stolen by the couple. Amounts ranged from $380,000 to more than $2 million.
“Give him justice,” said Dick Olmstead, one of the victims in a Tarrant County press release. “I have been denied my freedom. [He should have] loss of freedom too.”
“Paul Hill needs to go to jail […] for as long as they can put them there,” added Paul Wilber, another victim quoted in the press release.
“This has been a long journey for the victims of this offense because of Mr. Hill’s exiting himself from the state,” said Lori Varnell, chief of the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Elder
Financial Fraud team. “However, we are pleased to see justice come for them and for our community.”
For more Dallas crime-related news, see how Dallas City Councilmember Jaynie Schultz of District 11 was named The Dallas Express’ Crime Boss of the Month for February 2022.