Bend Con Artist Sentenced in Fraud Case

Last year, the Medford Mail Tribune called him “one of Medford’s most prolific con men” — and now, 41-year-old Todd Surgeon will spend six years behind bars and four years of post-prison supervision for scamming Bend-area investors out of more than $200,000.

Deschutes County Circuit Judge Stephen Forte handed down the sentence Thursday afternoon in a Bend courtroom.

Last month, Surgeon entered an Alford plea (a conditional guilty plea in which he didn’t admit to a crime, but acknowledged a likely guilty verdict) to reduced charges of stealing at least $50,000 from investors in a wellness clinic franchise. His plea deal involved 11 of the 45 charges originally filed against him.

“I realized he had an eager fish on his hook who was paying cash,” said victim Joann Lee. “He was determined to get everything he could out of me, regardless of what it would do to me.”

Several of the victims in court told Judge Forte the sentence was not harsh enough.

“I’m not here for the punishment of Todd Surgeon,” Lee said outside the courtroom. “I’m just here for the community. I think he is going to start hurting people again, and that’s why I’m upset with the verdict.”

Surgeon, arrested in December of 2010, also spoke in court, saying he had been putting everything he had to get his idea off the ground.

“For three months,” Surgeon said, “we lived in the back of our store, over on 27th Street. We did not want to let people down.”

Laurie Rose, who also was charged in the case and entered an Alford plea in January 2011, addressed the victims, saying she was sorry for any harm she had caused.

At an earlier court appearance, she said she was “suckered into this by Surgeon.” She received a 75-day jail sentence and agreed to testify against Surgeon, if his case went to trial.

On Thursday, she said Surgeon needs to pay for what he did.

“He does have to take responsibility for his choices,” said Rose. “Fortunately, that’s what this case is about.”

Surgeon was led out of the courtroom in handcuffs.

The judge also ordered Surgeon to pay more than $215,000 in restitution to his victims in Bend. As of last year, he still owed more than $250,000 in court-ordered restitution to victims in Medford, after serving seven years for a similar scam.