A 52-year-old Texas man who falsely claimed to have served in the 82nd Airborne Division and the elite Army Delta Force has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for bilking dozens of people out of more than $12.7 million.
Saint Jovite Youngblood, of Manor, Texas, offered his protection from fictitious Mexican drug cartels to at least 32 victims in exchange for money, investigators found. Youngblood also told victims that the payments were like investments, and he would pay them back with a “significant return,” according to a release.
In one of his schemes, Youngblood told a victim that a Mexican drug cartel planned to kill the man and his son, adding that he could offer protection for a fee.
Instead, Youngblood, also known as “Kota Youngblood,” took the money and gambled it during trips to Las Vegas, according to court documents.
Youngblood, meanwhile, was a used car salesman who never served in the military.
A federal jury found him guilty on four counts of wire fraud and one count of money laundering in April, Army Times previously reported.
“This fraudster developed close relationships with dozens of individuals, building an immense amount of trust seemingly just to destroy their lives financially through elaborate, deceitful misrepresentations,” U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas Jaime Esparza said in a release.
Some of his victims were fellow parents of children in a youth ice hockey league in suburban Austin, Texas.
“Many of Youngblood’s victims were terrorized thinking their families were in danger; others lost their livelihoods to his schemes,” Special Agent in Charge Aaron Tapp, of the FBI’s San Antonio Field Office, said in the release. “This sentence reflects the despicable nature of Mr. Youngblood’s lies and criminal actions.”
Youngblood often paid for dinners on sports road trips and gave parents gifts. He told fake stories of having served in the military and claimed he currently worked as an undercover federal agent.
In another incident he borrowed $200,000 from fellow hockey league parents to secure family heirlooms and resolve an alleged extortion case with his ex-wife.
As part of one scheme, Youngblood showed a victim fake documents, which he said indicated the victim was being targeted. He told them he would provide protection for a fee.
To pay his victims back, he offered to let victims hold supposedly valuable items as collateral. Items included baseball bats he said were used by Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, antique clocks and a Confederate-era flag, all of which later proved to be fake.
Youngblood said he was involved in investment opportunities with gold bars, coins, antique clocks, sports memorabilia and other items that could “generate significant returns on funds provided to him.”
At first, Youngblood did return some of the money victims provided to lull them into a false belief that their “investment” was secure, prosecutors said.
One victim, Austin-area developer Eric Perardi, told local news outlets he paid Youngblood nearly $900,000 over a period because he believed his family would be killed by cartel members.
Youngblood told him that a cartel had ordered a hit on Perardi and his son. He first asked him for $70,000 to hire people to protect them and said he’d give the money back to Perardi in a couple of weeks.
But the constant calls continued. To pay Youngblood’s protection fees Perardi sold his home and later lost his business.
Perardi later reported Youngblood to the FBI. He wore a wire to record Youngblood for federal agents.
“Justice was served,” Perardi told local media outlets after the April trial. “The FBI and the U.S. attorney believed us, put together a case really quickly, and though none of us can ever get our lives back, knowing that he can’t do this to other victims is a huge weight lifted.”
Todd South has written about crime, courts, government and the military for multiple publications since 2004 and was named a 2014 Pulitzer finalist for a co-written project on witness intimidation. Todd is a Marine veteran of the Iraq War.
