Chesapeake man gets 4.5 years for land fraud

By Matthew Bowers
The Virginian-Pilot
© February 26, 2011

CHESAPEAKE

The prosecutor praised Linwood E. Turner Sr. as savvy and hardworking. Then he asked a judge to send the 45-year-old man to prison for 15 years.

Judge Randall D. Smith, also complimenting Turner's intelligence, instead sentenced Turner to 4-1/2 years for fraudulent land deals that took $103,700 from more than a dozen victims. Smith suspended 20-1/2 years, saying in part he wanted Turner to have earning years left when he gets out to finish paying $92,200 still owed in restitution.

Turner pleaded guilty in September to forgery, uttering or obtaining money under false pretenses. Witnesses had testified to depositing money with Turner to buy properties in western Hampton Roads from March 2008 to February 2010, receiving nothing, and finding out the true owners didn't know about the deals.

"I do apologize to the victims," Turner said.

First he must return to Southampton County Circuit Court. A probation violation charge from a prior conviction leaves another eight or more years in prison hanging over Turner's head, said his attorney, Jon Babineau.

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