LOGAN — An 83-year-old North Logan man, previously convicted of securities fraud and stealing thousands of dollars from local residents, has admitted to trying to take financial advantage of a 94-year-old Logan man. Bruce William Anderson accepted a plea deal, agreeing to pay a fine instead of being sent to prison.
According to court records, Anderson and co-defendant, Robert Kenneth Yukes, a 79-year-old Salt Lake City man, appeared Sept. 22 in Logan’s 1st District Court. They both pleaded guilty to securities fraud, a second-degree felony. As part of the deal, a remaining charge was dismissed.
According to prosecutors, Anderson and Yukes called the victim, who suffers from cognitive decline, trying to convince them to invest in their company Resonance Water LLC. They claimed to sell non-toxic descaling products for use in the treatment of drinking water, and had recently signed a multi-million dollar deal with Houston, Texas, even though no such contract had been secured.
Despite the two men trying to get the victim to invest $100,000, they never were able to con the victim out of their life savings. At the time, Anderson was already on probation for a similar crime.
In June 2023, the North Logan man devised a scheme to steal $119,000 from a woman. He later accepted a plea in abeyance, agreeing to repay the money in exchange for serving any jail or prison time.
According to court records, Anderson previously served time in prison after being convicted of securities fraud in 2008.
Between December 2000 and November 2003 he offered to buy stock in several companies, telling investors they would receive a 100 percent return on their investment. Combined, the investors gave him $596,000.
Anderson claimed that his companies needed the capital to develop projects that included creating a super capacitor that would enable electric cars to run a week at a time without a battery charge, and manufacture a machine that turns automobile tires into electricity.
During September’s court hearing, Anderson and Yukes again avoided any time behind bars. Judge Angela Fonnesbeck suspended a prison sentence, and instead placed both men on 36 months of probation and ordered them to pay a $5,000 fine.