MARTINSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA - A federal jury has convicted a Maryland man of four wire fraud charges.

Duane Dixon, Jr., age 35, of Towson, Maryland, was found guilty of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and three counts of wire fraud. The jury heard testimony that as part of a fraud conspiracy an individual impersonating a landowner contacted a realtor in Winchester, Virginia. The imposter claimed to have authority to sell a parcel of real estate located in Hampshire County, West Virginia. Although having no legal rights to the property, the imposter listed the property for sale through the realtor.

As part of the fraud scheme, deposit information for a bank account belonging to, and controlled by Dixon, a co-conspirator of the imposter, was emailed to a real estate closing agent in an attempt to acquire control of the proceeds from the sham transaction. The imposter continued to make contact via email in his attempt to have funds wired to Dixon's bank account. When subsequently contacted by an undercover employee of the FBI, Dixon repeatedly lied about his relationship with the sender of the attempted wire transaction and his knowledge regarding the transactions. Dixon's fraudulent statements were made with the intent to complete the sham transaction. The jury determined that the email communications made in furtherance of the scheme constituted separate acts of wire fraud and returned guilty verdicts on three counts of wire fraud count and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Dixon faces up to 20 years in federal prison for each count. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jarod Douglas and Dan Salem prosecuted the case on behalf of the government.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated the case.

U.S. District Judge Gina M. Groh presided.