An elderly Black Hawk County businessman who was having financial difficulties will get a new trial on fraud charges. Mervin Hague was found guilty of engaging in a scheme he learned from a man in Arizona. In a maneuver that involved lots of letter writing to his lenders and declaring on his own that his debts were paid when they weren’t, Hague secured new titles for his Cadillac and his pick-up that showed there were no outstanding loans on the vehicles when there were. A Black Hawk County employee reviewing the records alerted authorities. Hague was found guilty of second degree fraud, he was ordered to pay a bunch of fines but wasn’t sent to jail. He appealed, and the Court of Appeals says he should get a new trial on the charges because instructions to the jury may have been prejudiced against Hague.
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