Fraud rap leads to 32 months in prison

A former Barrington man was sentenced to 32 months in prison after being convicted of bankruptcy fraud.

John S. Middlebrook, 62, who now resides in Lake Worth, Fla., was sentenced in federal court in Rockford Wednesday and ordered to report to prison Feb. 15 by U.S. District Judge Philip Reinhard.

Middlebrook was convicted last September on seven counts of bankruptcy fraud and related false statements following a five-day jury trial in a federal court in Rockford.

He was the majority owner and president of Federal Telecom Inc., an Illinois corporation that filed bankruptcy in August 2001.

Federal Telecom's manufacturing facility was located in Hebron in far northern McHenry County near the Wisconsin state line.

During the trial, evidence was presented that showed Middlebrook filed false documents and made false statements by failing to disclose all assets and liabilities during the companies bankruptcy proceedings.

U.S. Department of Justice officials said other evidence during the trial showed Middlebrook falsely testified under oath during bankruptcy hearings in order to conceal secret transfers of Federal Telecom assets to another corporation he owned.

Middlebrook failed to disclose approximately $1.1 million he personally owed to Federal Telecom and fraudulently kept the proceeds of a $9,688 insurance company check belonging Federal Telecom's bankruptcy estate, authorities said.

The case was investigated by the Rockford FBI office.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Love, who prosecuted the case, said the judge recommended that Middlebrook serve his time in a corrections facility located near his Florida home.