United States Attorney Deborah R. Gilg announced that James Allan Kappler, Jr., age 61, of Topeka, Kansas, was sentenced today by the Honorable Laurie Smith Camp after having previously pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. He was sentenced to 5 years, 3 months in federal prison to be followed by 3 years of supervised release when his incarceration ends. He was also ordered to pay $911,428.99 in restitution.
From 2007 through 2012, Kappler devised a scheme in which he represented to his mother that he was suffering from methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, also known as MRSA. MRSA is a staph infection than can become terminal and is resistant to many common antibiotics. Kappler told his mother that he was involved in a study sponsored by Pfizer Pharmaceuticals. He told her he needed to pay for all of his medical care and, once his treatment concluded, Pfizer would pay him $5,000,000. He convinced his mother to provide him money to pay for his “medical care." When Kappler’s mother’s funds were depleted, she sought more money from her sister and friends. In total, Kappler received at least $911,428.99 as part of his scheme. The funds were wired from his mother’s trust account to an account in Topeka.
In praising Judge Smith Camp’s sentence, Ms. Gilg remarked that oftentimes the elderly in our communities are our most vulnerable citizens.
The case was investigated by the United States Secret Service.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
