U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Litigation Release No. 17231 / November 14, 2001

   SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION v. TEXON ENERGY CORPORATION,
   LONESTAR PETROLEUM CORPORATION, JAMES E. HAMMONDS aka JAKE HAMMONDS
   aka JAKE DAVIS and BARRY V. REED (Case No. CV-01-09706-LGB(MANx)
   (C.D.Cal.)

   The United States Securities and Exchange Commission ("Commission")
   announced that on November 14, 2001, the Honorable Gary A. Feess,
   United States District Judge for the Central District of California,
   issued a temporary restraining order halting an ongoing $1 million
   securities fraud by Texon Energy Corporation ("Texon"); Lonestar
   Petroleum Corporation ("Lonestar"); James E. Hammonds ("Hammonds"),
   age 60 of Inglewood, California and a recidivist securities violator;
   and Barry V. Reed ("Reed"), age 56, of Las Vegas, Nevada. The Court
   (1) granted the Commission's application for a temporary restraining
   order and receiver; (2) froze the assets of the defendants; (3)
   prohibited the destruction of documents by the defendants; (4) ordered
   accountings from the defendants; and (5) granted expedited discovery.
   A hearing on whether a preliminary injunction should be issued against
   the defendants is scheduled for November 21, 2001.

   The Commission's complaint, filed yesterday, alleges that since 1998,
   the defendants have raised over $1 million from investors, purportedly
   for investments in oil and gas wells, and promising investors a
   monthly dividend equal to 12% per year. In fact, the defendants are
   operating a Ponzi-like scheme in which they are making payments to
   existing investors with the money that they raise from new investors.
   As part of the defendants' sales pitch in September and October 2001,
   the defendants have tried to capitalize on the September 11^th tragedy
   by telling elderly investors, that because of "the War," the demand
   and price of oil would increase and Texon is in a "good position" to
   benefit from all of this because it purchases domestic oil and gas
   wells.

   Hammonds is the vice president of Lonestar and in some documents is
   identified as the vice president of Texon. In 1994, Hammond was
   enjoined for his part in a similar oil and gas fraud in which
   investors were also falsely promised a 12% return. SEC v. Southern
   California Securities, Inc., et al., (CV-94-6156-HLH) (C.D. Cal.
   November 17, 1994) (LR14794). In 1996, he was barred from the
   securities industry. In the Matter of Raymond Charles Gross and James
   Eugene Hammonds, Exchange Act Release No. 36802.

   The Commission obtained an order temporarily restraining the
   defendants from committing securities fraud in violation of Section