Ex-Advisor Gets 3 Life Sentences for Bilking Senior Churchgoers in Texas

More than a dozen of his victims testified Monday at a three-hour court hearing, saying they lost $50,000 to $600,000 each after investing in the Gallagher Financial Group, according to Wilson. Some had to sell their homes, borrow money from their children or take part-time jobs to supplement their Social Security income as a result of the scam.

They spoke of losing trust in people and of the depression many of them now suffer after losing their money through Gallagher's company, Wilson said.

"I'm afraid my money is going to run out," said Judy Dewitt, one of the victims. "It's a very scary thing." She and the others who testified Monday asked Judge Beach to give Gallagher life in prison. "I don't trust anybody anymore, except for God and my family," said Susan Pippi, another victim, according to Wilson.

"'Doc' Gallagher is one of the worst offenders I have seen," Lori Varnell, chief of the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney's Elder Financial Fraud team, said in a statement. "He ruthlessly stole from his clients who trusted him for almost a decade."

Gallagher "amassed $32 million in loss to all of his clients and exploited many elder individuals," she said, adding: "He worked his way around churches preying on people who believed he was a Christian."

There was at least one sign of trouble many years earlier in his 15 years as a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority-registered advisor and broker.

In 1999, the Texas State Securities Board fined him $25,000 for allegedly engaging in three fraudulent business practices and making two material misrepresentations to the Securities commissioner, all in violation of the Texas Securities Act, according to a disclosure on his report on FINRA's BrokerCheck website.

Pictured: William Neil "Doc" Gallagher. Photo via Tarrant County Sheriff's Office