Bogus investment scam victim speaks out

Misty Helms was crushed to find out she and her husband had lost all of their savings in a bogus investment.
"I owned a restaurant and he ate in my restaurant everyday," Helms said. "For approximately 30 years I've known this man."
 
Misty says Bill Stacey claimed he had recently sold his formula for a drug that could help cure cancer.
"He set up a whole demonstration on how everything worked. I mean he had pamphlets, a DVD," She explained. "It looked legit. It looked like a real company."
 
Stacey claimed his firm was about to be acquired by a large pharmaceuitcal company. He told Misty he was selling a limited number of stock options before the acquisition and they would be affordable. Helms said, "Really cheap. 10 for a $1 and he was wanting to share the wealth with us."
 
Misty invested almost $3000 based on Stacey's claim she could make millions. The money never came.
"That was our nest egg. That was everything we had saved up, every penny. It wasn't much but it was everything to us."
 
Misty's husband filed a police complaint and they soon learned they were not alone.
 
Christopher Davis is a US Postal Inspector and said, "He would approach people in church, friends he knew through acquaintances in town."
 
There were hundreds of victims. Davis said, "They felt very betrayed by Mr. Stacey by pitching this thing, thinking they were helping him and basically he was just padding his own pocket."
 
Some advice from postal inspectors, research before you invest and be wary of anything that sounds too good to be true. Davis advised, "Talk to a friend, good friend, and say hey I got this opportunity to invest, what do you think about that opportunity."
 
Helms added, "I wished I had told somebody what I was going to do so they could have told me not to do it."

Stacey is serving a 5 year prison right now with an additional 3 years of supervised released. He was also ordered to pay back restitution to victims of more than $260,000.