Man accused of swindling Trolley Square widow

SALT LAKE CITY — A man accused of swindling the widow of one of the victims of the Trolley Square massacre out of her $250,000 life insurance money has been charged by the Utah Attorney General's Office.

Jason Kim Brown, 41, was charged in Third District Court with securities fraud and theft, both second-degree felonies.Jeffrey Walker and his son AJ Walker were the first people shot by Sulejman Talovic on Feb. 12, 2007, at Trolley Square. Jeffrey Walker was killed. A total of five people were fatally wounded and four more injured before Talovic was shot and killed by on-duty and off-duty police officers responding to the shooting.

In 2007, Vickie Walker, Jeffrey's widow, was approached in church by Brown. He told her that he was building storage units in Billings, Mont., and that several other widows had already invested with him, according to court documents.

Brown told Walker she could get her entire investment back in one year plus 12 percent interest. He said "the return on her investment was guaranteed" and that it was her "get-out-of-jail-free card," prosecutors said in court documents.

What Brown failed to tell Walker was that he had been notified at that time that he was going to be sued for more than $282,000 by one woman and also by a second person for an undisclosed amount of money, court records state.

Walker would occasionally check up on her investment and ask Brown how it was going. He "would tell her that the money was good," according to court documents. But Walker never received any of the money she was promised.

On July 16, 2009, Walker's attorney sent a letter to Brown, demanding he return her initial investment plus 12 percent interest per year, or he would sue. A civil suit was filed in September of 2009.

Walker learned that some of her money was used to invest in property in Herriman, court records state. She also learned that both Brown and his wife had been signing checks from Walker's account, including more than $38,000 to a Utah law firm, more than $6,600 to Regency Blue Cross, nearly $2,000 each to Edge Motorsports and Big O Tires, more than $1,200 to Verizon Wireless, more than $570 to JB's Custom Meats, $242 to South Valley Large Animal Clinic; and more than $2,000 was taken out of Walker's own account and paid back to her, according to court records.

In addition, about $10,700 was transferred to Brown's personal checking account, according to court records, and spent at places such as Target, Fotogenix, Build-A-Bear, restaurants and clothing stores.

Court records state that another portion of Walker's money was transferred to Drake Financial, a corporation in which Brown is the registered agent, director and secretary. Money transferred from Walker's account into the Drake account was used for credit card payments, at RC Willey, Harmons, Comcast, Academy of Elite Martial Arts, Riverton Music, Gold's Gym, Pottery Barn Kids, Local Motion Dance Studio and Gymboree, according to court documents.

e-mail: preavy@desnews.com