Victims Still Feel Cheated As 'Professional Manipulator' Goes Back To Work
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Despite owing his victims more than $1 million, a Twin Cities chiropractor twice convicted of fraud again has his license to practice.
Fifteen years ago, Randy Miland served two years in prison for a Ponzi scheme. He later served another three years for a real estate investment scam. A judge ordered Miland to pay more than one-and-a-half million dollars in restitution. That hasn't happened.
In 1999, his victims told WCCO-TV the damage Miland had caused.
"It's about the sickest situation I've ever encountered," said Bob Harvey back then.
"He's dishonest. It's intentional," said another victim, Ken Gelao.
Fourteen years have passed since that day in court. Still, the fight isn't over for Harvey and Gelao.
"He's a professional manipulator. No pun intended. I mean, he's in the chiropractor business, but he is he's a professional manipulator," Gelao said.
Gelao gave $80,000 to Miland after the chiropractor promised him a big return for his investment in Blockbuster Video stores. Investigators later found Miland never had any connections with Blockbuster and instead spent the money on strip clubs and booze.
"I gave him $65,000, and I think he's maybe paid $1,200 back," Harvey said.
It's the same story for more than a dozen others -- some former patients, family members and friend. Of the one and a half million he took from investors in the 1999 case, Miland has paid $30,000 back. In 2006, when he took another quarter of a million in a different scam, he paid back half.
Despite being ordered to pay restitution, Miland's criminal cases are considered closed. Washington County says it doesn't have any power anymore, even if he hasn't made a payment in eight years.
Miland agreed to talk to us, he said, to face the music.
"I love chiropractic. I love helping people, and I feel that I'm a very good chiropractor," he said.
The Minnesota Board of Chiropractic Examiners has allowed Miland to practice on a probationary license for more than a year. In a few months, that probation period will be over. The victims feel the board is their last resort to get any money.
Executive Director Larry Spicer says the board just doesn't have the power to require restitution.
"That's just not the place of the board," he said. "The job is not to punish them for past behavior, it's to protect them from future improper conduct."
Working as a chiropractor is the only way Miland believes he'll be able to pay anyone back.
"I want to try to make it right with these people as best I can," he said.
It's a promise that does little for Harvey and Galeo, who remain feeling victimized by a system they hoped would bring some kind of justice.
Miland is still paying the Department of Revenue $400 a month. Victims do have the option of filing civil lawsuits against him. The attorney general has asked the chiropractic board to reconsider its decision to give Miland his license back, but the board says the attorney general's office has known the details of this case all along, and hasn't said anything until now.
