An Anchorage man and his wife were sentenced in U.S. District Court yesterday for five counts of wire fraud and one count of filing a false income tax return.

The charges stem from a scheme that the two, 57-year-old Lori Wiley-Drones and 62-year-old Edward Drones, carried out that defrauded a young foster child of over $830,000 that had been placed in a trust fund after he was awarded damages in an abuse case involving his father.

In 1996, the Drones became the child’s foster parents. They would later adopt the child and filed a lawsuit in his behalf charging the state of Alaska with failure to protect. THe young boy would win out, and a trust fund in the amount of $830,000 was established for him.

In March of 2009, the Drones began arranging for the removal of the professional trustee overseeing the trust fund. This was initiated after the trustee refused the demands from the Drones to have the fund purchase the family home.

Edward Drones would lie about not having filed bankrupcy in the last ten years and was appointed the trustee after assuring the state court that he understood his obligations as a trustee and that he would keep the child’s property separate from his own and not utilize the fund for his own benefit.

But, once Edward Drone gained control of the trust fund, he immediately began sharing control of the fund with his wife Lori. Within ten months, the Drones admited in court, they had used up all but $15.05 of the trust money.

The money was used for a renovation of a Washington house, paying off $125,000 in creditcard bills, using over $67,000 to buy cars, and $38,000 for jewelry.

Then, the Drones filed a false income tax return by failing to report any of the more than $700,000 in misappropriated funds as income in 2010.

U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason, during sentencing, pointed out that when the Drones had decimated the adopted boy’s trust, they had destroyed his ability to trust people. The judge noted that the child’s father father compromised his childhood, and then the Drones compromised his future – and for things like Coach Purses, fine jewelry, clothes and cars.

The Drones were each sentenced to 46 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. They also must pay a total of $829,417.74 in restitution to the victim.