Foundation trustee pleads guilty to fraud charge

Associated Press - November 7, 2009 3:14 PM ET

SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) - A Shreveport man has pleaded guilty to defrauding a charitable foundation out of more than $1.8 million in mineral rights.

Federal prosecutors say 58-year-old Kirby Cole faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison after pleading guilty Friday to a mail fraud charge.

Cole was the sole remaining trustee of The Phillips Foundation, a 45-year-old trust.

Prosecutors say Cole sold to himself the mineral interests in roughly 140 acres of foundation-owned land in Caddo Parish but never paid the stated price. He later leased these minerals for $25,000 per acre and a 25 percent royalty and deposited the lease bonus of more than $1.8 million in his bank account.

Cole's sentencing is set for Feb. 19.