On the Internet, Dennis Fontaine’s work and ingenuity knew no bounds.
A website bills the 67-year-old as an “entrepreneurial technologist and inventor” who has “conceptualized, researched, developed and licensed new products and technologies for more than 20 years.”
Another website described Los Gatos-based Fontani as an innovative craftsman who, at the age of 6, built a hot dog cooker out of two nails, a block of wood and a stripped electrical wire. He founded his first business, the site writes, Red Hots for his Long Island neighbors.
Most of these claims are false. The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office is suingcalling Fontaine a “fake tech investor” and a “serial fraud.”
However, there is one title that Fontaine has recently earned without controversy: fugitive.
The district attorney’s office announced Wednesday that Fontaine escaped and is free ahead of his scheduled sentencing for fraud last month.
“Adam pretended to be an inventor, but he couldn’t pretend he wasn’t a fugitive for long,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement.
Fontaine pleaded guilty on May 20 to three felony counts of grand theft by deception. He also admitted to using his white-collar trade to defraud more than $350,000.
His sentencing was scheduled for Aug. 5, but he failed to appear in Santa Clara County Superior Court.
The plea agreement calls for Fontaine to serve two years in county jail and 10 years of formal probation, the district attorney’s office said.
According to the prosecution, Fontaine committed a series of frauds.
One case involved a robot named “Homer” that was supposed to help dispense medication to elderly and disabled people, according to the district attorney. Fontaine never invented such a robot.
According to the district attorney, he founded an Internet development company in Florida called Screen Test.
The company said it can insert people into any visual media. This allows the user to act or sing like the original artist, actor or singer in the video clip.
Fontaine called his invention “Facial Replacement Technology.” But he never produced it.
The district attorney accused Fontaine of defrauding investors out of millions through his schemes.
Part of his success came from a network of fake companies and websites that falsely credited Fontaine with numerous successes, awards and inventions.
A website believed to be the district attorney’s office listed Fontaine as one of the “Top 100 Inventors.”
“I can’t say the background information on these sites is accurate because they were created by the defendant,” said Oan Tran, a deputy district attorney and member of the county’s fraud unit, which specializes in white-collar crimes with a loss of more than $100,000.
It was part of the same biographical information lenders were looking for when investigating Fontaine’s investment.
There are also websites that have fake interviews that Fontaine supposedly gave.
The District Attorney’s Office is asking anyone with information regarding his whereabouts to contact Detective Justin DeOliveira at (408) 792-2420.
