VENTURA, CA - District Attorney Gregory D. Totten announced today that on March 1, 2012, Judge Brian Back sentenced Daniel Ray Coffman (DOB 03/31/54) to 54 months in jail following his conviction for three counts of felony grand theft. Judge Back imposed the maximum sentence allowed by law. After a two-week trial in January, Coffman, a former resident of Westlake Village, was found guilty of defrauding an Oak Park woman. The case was investigated by the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office Bureau of Investigation and the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department.

Coffman was on parole when he met Tracy Clark. He falsely told her that he was wealthy and that his ex-wife had frozen his assets. Coffman convinced her to loan him more than $28,000, that she obtained through high interest cash advances, because she believed him when he gave her promissory notes to quickly repay the money. He also defrauded her out of more than $12,000 by fraudulently using her credit card. Two other women testified at trial that Coffman had also defrauded them using a similar scheme. A fourth victim, Claudette Siah, testified that Coffman talked her into turning over her life savings to him in 2001. In 2005, Coffman was convicted of embezzling from Ms. Siah and was sent to state prison for three years, yet he has paid none of the $87,247 he owes her.

Judge Brian Back also ordered Coffman to pay $59,113 in victim restitution.