Perpetrator of Business License Scam Pleads Guilty

RIVERSIDE - A Riverside man who posed as a county official to illegally collect payments for renewing expired fictitious business licenses pleaded guilty today

Thomas Gerald Elder, 45, was arrested in the fall of 2011 in connection with a document-processing scam. He was charged with two counts of forgery of an official seal and one count each of grand theft, attempted grand theft exceeding $450 and misdemeanor false advertising.

During a trial-setting conference before Riverside County Superior Court Judge Helios Hernandez, Elder pleaded guilty to grand theft as part of a deal negotiated betw...