Fraud convict due back in court

A man who stole $450,000 from his employer but avoided a prison sentence because of medical problems may be headed behind bars after all.

Charles L. Ellinger O'Brien has been ordered to appear before U.S. District Judge Robert E. Payne this month on allegations of drinking.

O'Brien surrendered his golf clubs, one of 14 special conditions of his release imposed by Payne on July 9. But he also had to submit to drugand alcohol-abuse testing, and the federal probation office says O'Brien began drinking last August.

O'Brien referred questions yesterday to his lawyer, Craig Cooley. Cooley said that if it is shown O'Brien violated conditions of his probation, he could be sent to prison.

A 1989 graduate of Hampden-Sydney College, O'Brien stole $450,000 from SunTrust Bank -- where he was employed as a loan officer -- by fraudulently obtaining a loan in 2001.

Supposedly the money was to be used to raise funds for the Hampden-Sydney Foundation he had created. Instead, he used it to pay for a golf club membership and expensive cars.

O'Brien has bipolar disorder and a history of alcohol abuse, according to court records. He was disabled permanently by a 2004 brain injury when he fell down stairs while drunk. His psychiatrists say O'Brien needs 10 daily medications in a regimen that took years to perfect.

The U.S. Bureau of Prisons would not guarantee the treatment regimen would not be altered, so Payne sentenced O'Brien to an initial one day in jail, with 52 additional days in jail to be served on weekends, and three years of electronic home monitoring.

The probation office said that the "Sobrietor" -- a hand-held device that combines voice recognition and alcohol content detection -- showed O'Brien drank to excess 17 times from August to November.

The office reported the drinking on Nov. 6. A Dec. 11 petition to Payne noted that the Nov. 6 violation report made it clear to O'Brien that, "this was his last chance to demonstrate that he really wants to change his lifestyle and hopefully will work hard to do so."

"However, despite warning Mr. O'Brien . . . he has continued to be non-compliant by consuming alcohol and not being honest about his behavior," alleges the Dec. 11 petition.

According to the petition, at various times O'Brien blamed the readings on mouthwash, non-alcoholic beer or cold medicine. But he also allegedly admitted drinking and trying to beat the machine.

O'Brien was to have appeared before Payne on Tuesday, but the hearing has been delayed until the following week, Cooley said.

Contact Frank Green at (804) 649-6340 or .