Scam artist who has been working Oak Lawn has long criminal record
Jerry Rogers, aka, Jerald Dean
Scam artist Jerry Rogers, who has been working in the Oak Lawn area posing as a model agent, has a long criminal record.
Rogers has been going to bars on Cedar Springs Road and passing out business cards identifying himself as Jerald Dean with Dorf Modeling. Dean is an alias and Dorf Modeling doesn’t exist.
Several bars as well as Starbucks on Lemmon Avenue have banned him from their property.
Since Dallas Voice first reported the story of how Rogers lured men to fake modeling sessions, additional stories have surfaced. Victims charge, among other things, that Rogers drugged them and raped them.
He approached a Dallas Voice photographer while she was taking photos for the Scene section of the newspaper and tried to involve her in his modeling scheme. She described him as “creepy” and was afraid he was trying to steal her camera.
Rogers has arrest records in Florida and Ohio dating back to 2001 when he was 20 years old.
The latest arrest and conviction was in 2012 in Columbus, Ohio, where Rogers was charged with identity theft and receiving stolen property.
In January 2013, he pleaded guilty to one charge of receiving stolen property and the identity theft charge was dropped. He was sentenced to seven months in prison no fines. Court costs were suspended.
That sentence ran concurrently with a guilty plea he entered for two other cases where he was charged with receiving stolen property.
“After the imposition of the sentence, the court notified the defendant, orally and in writing, that the defendant shall be subject to a period of optional post-release control,” Judge David W. Fais wrote in sentencing Rogers.
The period of probation is three years.
If Rogers is charged in Texas, Ohio could revoke his probation.
While any juvenile record would not be available, Rogers’ first arrest as an adult appears to have been in 2001 when he was charged with violating an anti-stalking protection order. That charge was dismissed.
At the same time, however, he was found guilty of telephone harassment, a first-degree misdemeanor, and criminal trespass.
In 2002, he was charged with theft and a few months later with forgery. He received a plea deal and pleaded no contest to lesser charges.
Rogers’ first prison time may not have been until 2003. While Ohio records show he was not released until September 2004, Florida records show him charged with theft in April of that year.
Sometime after his release from prison in Ohio, Rogers moved to Dallas. He began spending time in bars in Oak Lawn earlier this year.
Joseph Gifford, who reported Rogers’ scams to Dallas police and told his story to Dallas Voice, said he assumed Rogers was homeless, because he was usually found sleeping in area bars and coffee shops.
Rogers wrote on his “Jerald Dean” Facebook page that he was returning to Ohio. That post has since been removed, and earlier this week new photos of one of his “model” victims were posted online.
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition November 7, 2014.
