A serial scammer convicted in Santa Clara County of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from investors for a fake medical device is on the run.
Dennis Fountaine, 67, claimed to have invented a robot called "Homer" to distribute medication, promoting it and himself online. But there was no robot.
"He uses these fake websites to gain credibility with investors," Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Oanh Tran said.
Fountaine was later found guilty of scamming investors out of more than $350,000, and on the day of his sentencing, he disappeared.
"This person is a prolific fraudster," Tran said. "Really our goal is to get the word out about Mr. Fountaine. We do believe that he's still trying to defraud unwitting victims out there."
The initial sentence for Fountaine was two years in state prison. The district attorney's office said he now faces up to six years.
High-tech medical device fraud is not new in the Bay Area. Elizabeth Holmes was sentenced to more than a decade in prison for investor fraud.
Local
Authorities said Fountaine is another example of why potential investors have to be more careful.
"A good rule of thumb for investors doing due diligence should be if somebody claims to have a technology, no matter what the technology is, whether it's hardware or software, and they can't show you today what it does, let them find the money elsewhere," Amplify Chief Strategy Officer Aron Solomon said.
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
