‘I am so tired of this’: Man with history of fraud seeks parole

Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

UTAH STATE PRISON — Gary Carl Fornia says he tried really hard during his last time on parole to stay out of trouble.

“I am so tired of this. You have no idea,” Fornia told Utah Board of Pardons and Parole member Clark Harms in a recording of his Nov. 5 parole hearing. “This has been a nightmare for my family, and I’m so sorry it happened.”

Fornia, 59, of Draper, worked many years as a marketing director, and has also been involved in a number of fraud schemes over the past two decades.

In 2000, he was charged with 16 counts of communications fraud and racketeering and ultimately pleaded guilty to three of the charges. He was accused of duping people into buying fake advertising space in rural telephone directories.

Utah State Prison

Gary Carl Fornia

Fornia collected advertising money totaling $827,295 from 7,547 companies in all 50 states, according to charging documents. But while he solicited nationwide, his companies only printed four rural telephone directories that were distributed solely in Utah.

Fornia was sentenced to a term of one to 15 years in prison in 2002.

In 2007, he was convicted of 11 counts of communications fraud and engaging in a pattern of unlawful activity and was sentenced to one to 15 years in prison. In that scheme, Fornia convinced construction and real estate companies to pay him to place ads prominently on Google. But many of those ads never got prominent placements online because Google was not paid.

Fornia violated parole four times between 2006 and 2017. He was last paroled in June 2016 before being returned to prison in 2017 on a parole violation while authorities investigated new allegations. That investigation resulted in new charges in 2018, including nine counts of communications fraud, theft and engaging in a pattern of unlawful activity.

But in that case, Fornia said he was a victim himself.

Fornia was the marketing manager for My Senior Media LLC. Fornia and My Senior Media were scheduled to hold a Senior Expo at Hogle Zoo in the summer of 2017, according to charging documents filed in 3rd District Court. Nearly 200 companies purchased booths at the expo for $2,750 each.

But the event was postponed two days before it was scheduled to happen, allegedly due to record-breaking heat. Fornia told all of the Senior Expo sponsors that the event had been moved to the Living Planet Aquarium, the charges state.

But the aquarium never agreed to host the expo, and a letter by Fornia to the zoo “stated the actual reasons for cancellation of the event were lack of payment, among other reasons,” the charges state.

Fornia then tried to reschedule the event a second time at Salt Lake Community College. But a deposit was never paid, the event was canceled and “most of the vendors never received a refund for the money they paid to participate in the Senior Expo,” the charges state.

During his parole hearing on Nov. 5, Fornia said the real problem was that another person with My Senior Media “disappeared with all the money” 10 days before the expo.

“I did not steal a single penny,” he told the parole board.

No one else, however, was charged in connection with the nonrefunded money.

Still, Fornia was convicted on only one count of communications fraud, a class A misdemeanor.

During his parole hearing, Harms asked Fornia how he seems to always find himself wrapped up in such schemes.

“You seem to always find yourself chasing an elusive dollar,” Harms said.

Fornia said part of the problem was that he has been attempting to pay restitution to other victims for years, while at the same time supporting his aging mother who is in a nursing home.

“It just turned one thing into another. It’s been unbelievable what’s happened to me,” he said. “I’ve tried to make integrity the foundation of my life and I’ve tried to deal ethically with everyone so I can put all of this behind me.”

During his latest stint in prison, Fornia said he has taken several life skills courses that have benefited him greatly.

“I need to really look at myself. I need to really think before I act. I need to consider everything. It was very eye-opening for me,” he said, while adding he’s also learned to be more careful about who he associates with.

The full five member board will now vote on whether to grant parole. Because of his prior convictions, Fornia would be released in 2045 if he served his full sentence.

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