Debate rages over First Springfield Securities

by Karen E. Culp

SBJ Staff

A debate is on among those involved in First Springfield Securities. On one side is Ron Stith, who asserts that he did not develop an investment scheme that is now under investigation by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.

On the other is Michael Dwyer, who insists the investment program was presented to him by the upper management of First Springfield Securities.

First Springfield Securities is a now-defunct local company that is facing charges from the SEC. The company and two individuals, one of whom is Dwyer, are named defendants in the case. Stith is not a defendant.

A company Stith owns, R.C. and Associates, was 60 percent owner of First Springfield Securities. Stith denied accusations by Dwyer that the investment agreement Dwyer presented to two women in a nursing home originated with Stith or a company Stith was involved in.

"I don't know why he would make such a statement," Stith said.

Stith's attorney, Richard Crites, said he has taped evidence that corroborates Stith's assertion.

"Stith first heard of the scheme from his accountant. He then confronted Dwyer with it. This investment scheme did not originate with Ron Stith," Crites said.

Dwyer stands by his earlier statements that the investment came to him from the upper management of First Springfield Securities.

"It was brought to me by Don Radle, and it was brought to Don Radle by Ron Stith and his associates," Dwyer said.

The SEC's lawsuit says Dwyer approached two women in a nursing home and "obtained their signatures under false pretenses," to involve them in a "fraudulent scheme." The action was stopped before $300,000 of the women's money was invested, the SEC's filing states.

The lawsuit further states that Radle and the company raised $4 million through five investors by "selling securities in the form of investment agreements that guaranteed an extremely high rate of return." The lawsuit goes on to say the investments were risky because the company directed the funds to accounts neither Radle nor First Springfield controlled.

The two women in the nursing home were sisters, Crites said, and had been clients of Stith's insurance company, R.C. and Associates.

It was Stith who stopped the investment in the so-called "fraudulent scheme" before their money reached its final destination, Crites said.

"It was Ron Stith who stopped this transaction from going through," Crites said. He further stated that taped telephone conversations corroborate that assertion.

R.C. and Associates bought into First Springfield Securities, which is now closed, in February of 1997. Stith said Don Radle, who had been employed by the company since its inception, continued to run the office until Stith decided to intervene in the business. Crites said on April 24, 1998, he assisted R.C. and Associates in shutting the business down.

"This business has been investigated by the FBI, the U.S. Postal Service, the Missouri Division of Securities, the IRS Criminal Investigation Division, Federal and Grand Jury and now the SEC. So far, Ron Stith has not been named in anything that has been filed. If there had been anything to accuse him of, it would have been done by now