Chantilly's James Robert "Bob" McClendon Jr. now has nine years of suspended prison time hanging over his head. If he commits any further criminal acts or fails to make full restitution to his victim, he could be hauled back to court and incarcerated.
Convicted of embezzlement in both Loudoun and Fairfax counties, he defrauded a Centreville man out of a quarter of a million dollars. But the victim pressed charges and, in the end, McClendon, now 51, of the Sutton Oaks community, had to pay for his crime.
IN JANUARY, he received a suspended, six-year prison sentence in Loudoun County Circuit Court. And last Friday in Fairfax County Circuit Court, he was given an additional, three-year suspended sentence.
In October 2004, the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office arrested McClendon, charging him with forging signatures on three, separate promissory notes to receive money from a Loudoun business.
McClendon's actions yielded him $250,000 from the Centreville man who owned that business. Making matters worse, they also helped destroy plans for a much-needed field house to have been built in Chantilly via a public/private partnership agreement with the Fairfax County Park Authority.
In connection with that same offense, on June 13, 2005, Fairfax County police also arrested McClendon, charging him with two counts of embezzlement and two counts of fraudulent accounting. Three of the charges were later dropped and, on March 20, the grand jury indicted him on one count of embezzlement.
Meanwhile, two months earlier — on Jan. 9 — Loudoun Circuit Court Judge Thomas Horne ordered McClendon to repay the debt in full, plus interest. He also directed that 55 percent of McClendon's gross annual income be garnished to make sure he does it.
Then last Friday, Oct. 27, in Fairfax County Circuit Court, Judge M. Langhorne Keith sentenced the Chantilly man to three years in prison. He then suspended all that time and placed McClendon on one year of active probation. He also ordered him to pay the restitution mandated by Loudoun County.
Afterward, the Centreville man whom McClendon had swindled said he was satisfied with the outcome "as long as he keeps making the restitution."
Referring to both himself and the other two men whose names McClendon had forged, he said, "We wanted him held accountable and to continue making his payments. Him being incarcerated doesn't do me any good."