A federal indictment was filed this week against Stamford Mayor James Decker, court records show.
Court documents dated Wednesday, Aug. 12, in Abilene’s U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas accuse Decker of wire fraud totaling $308,000 beginning around July 23, 2025.
Decker, who was first elected mayor in 2018, is a longtime licensed attorney in the area and is named in the indictment as a trustee and executor to specific trusts, estates and associations.
Federal investigators allege Decker schemed to defraud and obtain money through fraudulent pretenses and then transmitting over state lines deceptive communications meant to advance those schemes by “inducing others to transmit money and property to them.”
“James Michael Decker’s materially false and fraudulent representations wrongly deprived others of their money and property,” the indictment said.
In total, Decker faces five counts of wire fraud, court records show.
If convicted, he could be sentenced to 20 years in prison and be fined up to $250,000 for each count. Decker would also be compelled to return any of the assets he is alleged to have taken.
Anyone charged with a crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
The Reporter-News reached out to Decker for comment Friday morning but did not receive a response before press time.
During this period, the indictment states Decker as mayor had access to specific city and community bank accounts as the signatory. A “signatory” has the formal authority to bind an organization or party to an agreement.
The accounts named in the indictment are kept at First State Bank, including those belonging to the Community Foundation of Stamford, the F.H. Estate, the H.F. Trust, the Estate of J.D.B, and the N.W. Estate. Decker, the indictment said, had no personal property interest in any funds in these accounts.
The indictment also names Decker as the signatory on the T.A. Livestock Association at the bank.
Decker has been quoted in past Reporter-News stories about events at the Tri-Area Livestock Show which occurs in early January each year.
The indictment alleges Decker formed a “secret personal relationship” with two people in Oklahoma who otherwise had no business ties to Stamford or the estates, trusts or associations Decker controlled.
Investigators accuse Decker of using his signatory power as mayor to transfer $133,000 from the Community Foundation of Stamford to disperse that money to personal accounts under his control, including a mayoral campaign account, according to allegations.
Decker then transferred the cash to the previously-mentioned secret Oklahoma individuals, the indictment alleges.
Decker also siphoned $163,000 from the previously mentioned estate accounts in the same manner as the Community Foundation funds where they ended up in the hands of the unnamed Oklahomans, the indictment alleges. Decker is accused of moving $12,000 out of the livestock association’s coffers into his own account and sending that to Oklahoma as well.
In total, Decker is facing five counts of wire fraud. If convicted, he could be sentenced to 20 years in prison and be fined up to $250,000 for each count. Decker would also be compelled to return any of the assets he is alleged to have taken.
This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Stamford mayor faces wire fraud charges
Reporting by Ronald W. Erdrich, Abilene Reporter-News / Abilene Reporter-News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Ronald W. Erdrich, Abilene Reporter-News | USA TODAY Network
