FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Budget Blinds Con Man Gets Maximum Prison Term

San Antonio, Texas: November 30, 2010

District Attorney Susan D. Reed announced today that Larry Berry, age 38, was sentenced to the maximum term of ten years in prison, and ordered to pay restitution by the Honorable Judge Mary Roman of the 175th District Court. Berry was convicted by a jury in October of 2010 of committing the offenses of Theft and Misapplication by a Fiduciary $20,000 – 100,000.

Larry Berry had operated a Budget Blinds franchise. At trial, 32 victims testified that they paid him for window blinds that he never delivered. The evidence showed that the loss to the victims was $78,733.44. At punishment, the State also presented evidence that Berry had left San Antonio and had moved on to Travis County with the same scheme.

Theft and Misapplication by a Fiduciary $20,000 – 100,000 are both third-degree felony offenses which carry a punishment range of two to ten years in prison and a fine up to $10,000.

For more information, please contact the Chief of the White Collar Crime Division, Adriana Biggs at 210 335-2404.