WRIC anchor says she and her spouse lost $200,000 in Ponzi scheme

In 2006, local television news anchor Gwen Williams Dandridge and her husband, Eric, began investing with Walkwood Properties, which offered a 50 percent return in 45 days.

The money was supposed to be used to buy property facing foreclosure. Known as Gwen Williams to viewers of WRIC, she testified in federal court yesterday that although they initially made some money, they wound up losing $200,000.

The owners of Walkwood -- Darrell Underwood, 42, and his wife, Cynthia, 41 -- are on trial on 36 counts of bank, mail and wire fraud; aiding and abetting bank, mail and wire fraud; money laundering; and engaging in unlawful transactions.

Their company, based in Midlothian, allowed homeowners to save their homes from foreclosure by selling the property to Walkwood. And the Underwoods drew many investors, including Williams, from the church they attended, Mount Gilead Full Gospel International Ministries.

The indictment alleges that the couple, when soliciting new investors, would make reference to Williams and high-profile church members -- who were unaware of any fraud and, in some cases, that their names were being used.

Williams testified yesterday that she never gave permission for her name to be used and that her employer would not have allowed it. She said Darrell Underwood assured them the money was backed by real estate.

Many investors were promised up to a 50 percent return on their money within 60 to 90 days, and many of them drew in more investors who were impressed with the returns.

Prosecutors allege that it was a Ponzi scheme in which money from new investors was used to pay earlier ones. Prosecutors say that when the company's offices were raided in December 2007, it was millions of dollars short of what was needed to pay everyone back.

The government alleges that of the $18.4 million the Underwoods took in from April 2007 through Dec. 13 2007, about $13.4 million was used to pay back investors while roughly $2 million was used in real estate deals.

The Underwoods, prosecutors also allege, used some of the money to make their own mortgage and car payments and even church tithing.

Williams testified that Darrell Underwood assured them everything was aboveboard. In addition to making investments in the investors pool, she and her husband also went in on special deals with Walkwood to buy five homes in which they each got 25 percent of the profit and the company 50 percent.

As a result, the Williamses still own four homes. "We'd like to sell them if anybody wants to buy them," Williams said, prompting chuckles in the courtroom.

Among other investors who have testified was Simoan Roane, 29, a Verizon employee. Roane said she had been $30,000 to $40,000 in credit-card debt and $100 to $200 a month short of meeting all her financial obligations each month.

She did not know how she would dig herself out of the hole. Then she heard of the great returns that people were making with the Underwoods, a couple she had seen at church. She visited their busy offices and met with Cynthia Underwood.

Roane said she thought not only would she make a good return but also would be helping people keep their homes.

She arranged a $20,000 credit-card advance and invested, thinking "this was my opportunity to finally break free." Thus far, however, she has been paid back $900 and is now in a far deeper financial hole.

"I keeping borrowing from Peter to pay Paul," she said.

She added that she keeps "wondering why in the world did I do this."

Thomas Trotter, a friend of Darrell Underwood, started investing small amounts and then larger ones as the payments started coming back. "I was making a lot of money, and I was telling people I was making a lot of money," he said.

Trotter said he wound up bringing in 44 other investors with whom he split the profits. It was so lucrative, he said, that "it got to the point nobody wanted to pull their money out."

"Me and my clients, we really got greedy. . . . We wanted to keep investing, and [Darrell Underwood] said, 'Sure.'" Trotter testified that he owes $3.2 million to $3.5 million to other investors and that he has fled the state.

He said he told Underwood that people were trying to kill him and that he owed a lot of money. He testified that Underwood told him, "Trotter, man, what you're in, I'm in 10 times worse."

Contact Frank Green at (804) 649-6340 or fgreen@timesdispatch.com.