Miller County prosecutors have filed criminal charges against a Texas man accused of pocketing $5,000 in a fraudulent Ted Nugent booking at Shooter’s Sports Bar in 2014.
Robert James Devine, 64, is facing charges of theft of property and unlawful act involving electronic mail for allegedly convincing management at Shooter’s Sports Bar in Texarkana, Ark., that he could book a Ted Nugent show for $5,000 in the summer of 2014. After paying Devine, of Austin, Texas, a $5,000 down payment, management learned that Nugent’s tour was ending before the performance he was fraudulently booked to give in Texarkana and that he had no plans to take the stage again.
Shooter’s managers sent notice to Devine, who allegedly marketed himself as a Maximus Entertainment booking agent, in August 2014 requesting a full refund of the $5,000. When the money wasn’t returned, Shooter’s made a report to Texarkana, Ark., Police Department.
About a month following the report to TAPD in September 2014, TAPD detectives were contacted by a member of the Travis County, Texas, District Attorney’s Office concerning an investigation into Devine. Travis County officials found evidence of the alleged Shooter’s fraud on Devine’s computers, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Travis County authorities reported to TAPD that Devine cashed the $5,000 cashier’s check from Shooter’s at a Money Box Store on Congress Avenue in Austin for a $100 fee the day after the check was sent overnight delivery from Shooter’s. The Travis County investigator told TAPD that Devine bought a 1998 Mercury Villager from a used car dealership in Austin for about $2,400 the day after Devine allegedly cashed the check from Shooter’s.
Devine was serving a 10-year prison sentence in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice when he was brought to Miller County in January to face charges concerning the alleged Ted Nugent scam. According to TDCJ’s website, Devine was sentenced for seven robberies in Travis County in June 2016 which were committed in the last two months of 2014.
Devine recently pleaded not guilty in Miller County. He faces up to six years in prison and a fine up to $10,000 on both the theft and unlawful use of email offenses if found guilty. Devine is currently being held in the Miller County jail.
