Pella Woman Sentenced To 48 Months For Fraud

DES MOINES, IA - Beverly Joan DeRonde, age 61, was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 48 months for mail fraud. The Honorable James E. Gritzner, Chief United States District Court Judge, also sentenced DeRonde to pay restitution to her victims in the amount of $680,376.93, a $100 special assessment to the crime victims fund, and also ordered her to serve a three year period of supervised release after imprisonment.

DeRonde, from Pella, Iowa, operated a Ponzi scheme between 2003 and 2010, involving over 70 individuals. DeRonde would solicit loans from her victims, claiming she needed to borrow the money to buy her husband a birthday or anniversary present, or to help him start his boat repair business. DeRonde promised huge amounts of interest to entice her victims to lend her the money. DeRonde used the money from new victims to pay off the older loans. She wrote numerous letters to her victims, asking them to keep the loans a secret and giving various excuses as to why she was unable to repay them on the date previously promised.

This case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.

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