KOGO Radio financial stock tout arrested in Utah

The Securities and Exchange Commission three years ago charged him and his firm, Total Wealth Management, with fraud. The agency said he got kickbacks for touting stocks without divulging the ruse to his clients. Some of his ill-gotten gains went into a Washington City, Utah gun shop called Dixie Gun Worx, according to the San Diego law firm of Aguirre & Severson, one of the firms that has filed suit against Cooper and his firm.

He was arrested on a warrant from Superior Court in San Diego, issued by the San Diego District Attorney's office, according to paperwork accompanying his arrest. Among the charges are securities fraud, misrepresentation on sale of a security, and theft from an elder.

According to Tom Harvey of The Salt Lake Tribune, writing two years ago, "A number of alleged victims in the San Diego area are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. On a Total Wealth web page, Cooper touts his two-year Mormon mission in New England and boasts that he is an Eagle Scout."

The Reader pointed out in August of 2014 that he touted his participation in "Boy Scouts, Marine Corps, Mormon Church," and boasted of his investment savvy on his KOGO radio program.

According to the arrest papers, Cooper is "currently incarcerated in the Purgatory Correctional Facility in Hurricane, Utah," which is the main jail in Washington County.

Says Gloria Templin of Bonita, one of the victims, "I lost $263,000 — my entire retirement savings. The majority of us [victims] were seniors." She originally went to Cooper after listening to his radio broadcasts. She and her fellow victims "feel like the biggest fools on the planet."