Pike County Sheriff’s Office Investigators concluded a five month long investigation into a scam operation which has resulted in the arrests of two men. Billy Daniels Sr. , 70 years of age from Zebulon, and George Veal, 52 years of age from Milledgeville, were arrested yesterday and charged with Violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act (RICO). Daniels has an additional charge of theft by deception.
The investigation into the men’s activities began after a complaint from a local citizen about investing money with the suspects in which their was to be a return paid that was never received. Victims were found as far away as Minnesota and throughout Georgia, after numerous interviews with victims a pattern of getting them to invest in nonexistent companies was found. The suspects even provided documents and had incorporated a fake company to make the business dealings appear legitimate to the victims. Veal is an attorney and money was commonly sent to his accounts by the victims at which time he was found to keep portions of the proceeds for himself.
The suspects had a wide array of victims that included elderly people, cancer patients and lawyers. All of which were swindled out of varying amounts of money.
A total of over $700,000 was found to have been taken in by the two suspects. Both men are in the Pike County Jail and Daniels has a bond of $300,000, Veal’s bond has not been set yet. Daniels is currently on probation from Monroe County where he was convicted for Theft by Conversion in 2013, he also has a prior federal court conviction for embezzlement and theft from a health benefit plan in 1997.
It is possible that more unknown victims exist. If anyone has had any investment business with either of these two suspects you can call an Investigator at 770-567-8431.
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