East Texas Sports Enthusiast Sentenced for Fraud

A 43-year-old East Texas man has been sentenced on federal fraud charges. The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas says Eual Hallford of Bullard pled guilty January 7th to wire fraud, and has been sentenced to 21 months in federal prison. He's also been ordered to pay $106,000 in restitution. According to court information, Hallford was buying and selling sports memorabilia over the internet -- and maintained various merchant accounts to process credit card payments. He's said to have falsified bank statements in order to apply for a credit card merchant account through a Maine company. Loss to the company wat at least $120,000.