The Emporia Gazette

May 27, 2012

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A man convicted of scamming his family and church friends in McPherson, Kan., for more than $500,000 has been sentenced to almost four years in federal prison.

David E. Burkholder, 55, of San Francisco, Calif., received a 46-month prison sentence for making fraudulent claims that resulted in his receiving more than a half million dollars from the McPherson-area residents.

Burkholder had pleaded guilty in September to 24 counts of wire fraud and agreed to pay $548,000 in restitution to his victims, according to information from Jim Cross, public information officer for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Wichita.

In his plea, Burkholder admitted that from 2003 through April 2005, while he was living in California, he fraudulently persuaded his parents in McPherson to raise $548,000 on his behalf from friends and members of their church.

In furtherance of his scheme, Burkholder fraudulently claimed:

- He owed singer Barbara Streisand more than $100,000 to terminate a contract between her and his partnership.

- He needed money to settle a personal injury lawsuit in which a woman was claiming to have miscarried due to the accident.

- That one of his business partners had been killed in a tsunami and he needed cash to give the deceased partner’s family.

- That he would repay people who gave him money by selling his rental property on Aztec Street in San Francisco.

- That he was going to be paid a $1 million signing bonus when his partnership incorporated.

 As a result of Burkholder’s false statements, his parents caused funds to be transmitted by wire transfer from McPherson to San Francisco, Cross said.

 Parker commended the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Assistant U.S. Attorney Alan Metzger for their work on the case.