Thursday, March 11, 2010

16 years in Prison. Enough said?

Charity swindle nets 16-year terms for 2 con men

POSTED: 10/08/2009 01:45:02 PM MDT

UPDATED: 10/08/2009 02:31:34 PM MDT

Two men who conned hundreds of Coloradans into donating money to nonexistent charities have each been sentenced to 16 years in prison.

Danny Troy Kleiman, 45, and David Dale Werkmeister, 55, also were ordered to pay $95,680 in restitution.

The pair ran the scam between November 2005 and April 2007. During that period, the men used more than 180 fake charity names when soliciting donations.

Little or no money that the pair raised was ever used for charitable purposes.

During their 18-month scam, Kleiman and Werkmeister received more than 1,600 contributions totaling more than $95,000 from 626 victims in the seven-county Denver metro area.

More than three-quarters of the donors were elderly Coloradans.

Kleiman and Werkmeister fraudulently registered the charity trade names and then used phone solicitations to obtain the donations.

The men pleaded guilty to violating the state's organized-crime act and committing charities fraud.

The 16-year sentences were the maximum allowable under their plea agreements.

Politicians do it too, this one got 55 grand before they got him.

New York Politician Sent to Jail for Five Years in Charity Scam

Miguel Martinez, a former New York City council member, was sentenced Tuesday to five years in prison for misappropriating funds intended for nonprofit groups in his Manhattan district, The New York Times reports.

Mr. Martinez pleaded guilty to three felony counts in July, just after he resigned from the council amid an investigation of council members’ distribution of funds to community groups.

He admitted to pocketing $55,000 that was intended to support the Washington Heights Art Center and the Upper Manhattan Council Assisting Neighbors.

Another con man in Tenn.

STAND YOUR GROUND: Police charity scam targeting Mid-South restaurants

Posted: Jun 19, 2009 10:54 AMUpdated: Jul 15, 2009 5:58 AM

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A scam artist is looking for a free lunch on the cash flow of Mid-South restaurants.

Mike Miller, manager of Patrick's Steaks & Spirits, 4972 Park Ave. in East Memphis and president of the Memphis Restaurant Association (http://www.memphisrestaurants.com/), says a man using different names but the same cell number - 901-644-9572 -- has called at least three of the association's restaurants.

Miller says the caller claims he's collecting cash donations for the Shelby County Fraternal Order of Police "Shop With A Cop" children's fundraiser. The caller has used the name 'Arthur Lappin,' as well as Miller's name, when contacting the restaurants.

Don Hollie, secretary of the Shelby County Metro FOP Lodge #35 (http://www.shelbycountymetrofoplodge35.com/) says there is no 'Arthur Lappin' on the FOP's board, staff or telemarketer's list. Hollie also says the FOP only accepts checks and money orders, not cash.

"Anytime someone calls up and solicits cash, probably there's something wrong there," says Miller.

The caller also contacted John Adams, an account executive with The Memphis Flyer. Adams says the caller requested a list of restaurants and their contacts, preferably restaurants that just recently opened, so he could solicit them for the FOP fundraiser.

"When I asked for a cover letter, a press release, anything that could substantiate his claim, he backed off and hung up the phone," says Adams.

The Action News 5 Investigators tracked the name 'Arthur Lappin' to an East Ridge, TN, address near Chattanooga, but no phone number. We determined the cell number is a Cricket account, but we could not obtain the name or address of the account holder.

We set up a sting at Patrick's when the caller agreed to meet Miller at the restaurant to discuss the possibility of a cash donation.

He didn't show.

Miller called him to find out why he skipped the meeting and to question his connection to the FOP. He said he travels all the time and typically sends a representative to pick up the donations.

"I mean, it's all legitimate. I just don't happen to be there, you know what I mean?" he told Miller on the phone.

Hollie insists the caller has no connection to the Shelby County Metro FOP.

Be aware of the tell-tale signs of a police charity scam:

* IF IT ACCEPTS CASH ONLY, IT'S A SCAM. Legitimate police charities will accept checks and money orders, but not necessarily credit cards.

* IF IT USES AN OFFICER'S DEATH TO SOLICIT FUNDS, IT'S A SCAM. The family of an officer killed in the line of duty will get a death benefit from the government, not phone donations.

* IF IT CLAIMS TO BE COLLECTING FOR BULLET-PROOF VESTS, WEAPONS OR EQUIPMENT, IT'S A SCAM. Our tax dollars pay for those items.

We have a real problem with this one. Using Churches to con the public. This is just crazy.

Men charged in alleged charity scam

Posted: Feb 03, 2010 2:27 PM

Brandon Baird

Branden Fitzgerald

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SUMNER CO., Tenn. – A Sumner County man and his accomplice face multiple counts of criminal simulation and theft in connection to an alleged charity scam.

Brandon Baird, 32, of Hendersonville, is charged with three counts of criminal simulation, two counts of theft and one count of attempted theft for money solicited from businesses and people during November and December of last year.

Police said Baird claimed to be collecting donations for Hendersonville First Baptist Church and Long Hollow Baptist Church and printing inserts with Busy Bee Printing.

Neither the churches nor the printing company knew anything about Baird, according to police.

Branden Fitzgerald, 19, of Portland, is Baird's alleged accomplice.

He is charged with charged with 11 counts of criminal simulation, 10 counts of theft up to $500 and one count of theft over $1,000.

Authorities said Baird and Fitzgerald are also charged with theft and criminal impersonation in Robertson County for allegedly soliciting funds in the name of the Robertson County Sheriff's office.

*The Hendersonville Star News contributed to this report.

Attorney General Koster recovered $118,252 - Congrats to the People of Missouri

Attorney General's News Release

March 5, 2010

Attorney General Koster wins judgment against charity scam artist

Jefferson City, Mo. -- Attorney General Chris Koster said the St. Louis County Circuit Court has ordered Sidney Young and Our American Veterans, Inc., to pay restitution and civil penalties of $118,252 for deceptive solicitations in Missouri.

Koster said Young, of Fort Valley, Georgia, operated Our American Veterans, Inc. (OAVI), a sham nonprofit corporation claiming to help homeless veterans when in fact, the vast majority of OAVI's revenue went straight into the pockets of Sidney Young, his family, and OAVI's employees and contractors.

Koster said Young used telemarketers to convince potential donors that their donations would be distributed to "as many veterans as possible." He said that in 2007 and 2008, at least 632 Missourians gave more than $16,500 to OAVI. Koster said OAVI never meant its primary purpose to be assisting veterans. He said that in reality, less than 1 percent of the donations actually went to veterans, and not one Missouri veteran ever received assistance from OAVI.

Koster filed suit against Our American Veterans, Inc., in May when he launched "Operation Broken Charity," an initiative to crack down on fraudulent fundraisers claiming to help police, firefighters, and veterans.

"It's contemptible that people would take advantage of decent, charitable Missourians by promising to use their money help the brave people who keep us safe," Koster said. "This action should be a message to fraudulent charity fundraisers that we will not tolerate this behavior in Missouri."

Koster said that in addition to the restitution and civil penalties, the court issued an order permanently barring the defendants from soliciting in Missouri.

Koster urged Missourians to check the Attorney General's "Check a Charity" website - ago.mo.gov - for information on charities and the percentage of their donations that are used for program services.

Crescent, Pennsylvania Fire Chief gets calls to rip him off too. No one is safe!

02/14/2010 01:41 AM

ID: 82894

Permalink

Fake Firefighter Charity Scam Calls Fire Chief

Crescent, Pennsylvania Fire Chief David Meehl reports getting a call collecting for disabled firefighters. He got real suspicious when the first thing they said was: "They take all major credit cards."
The scammer said, "Firefighters have a dangerous job." The fire chief said, "I know, I´m the fire chief." Then the caller hangs up. The chief reports other people have received similar calls.
PA police advise not giving out credit card information over the phone.

Police Charity Scams are active in Boston too. It really is everywhere

Mar 4, 2010 4:34 pm US/Eastern

Boston Police Warn Of Phony Charity Scam

BOSTON (WBZ) ―

Click to enlarge 1 of 1: Michael Springer/Getty Images

707 More Charity Victims

Longmont man indicted on charity fraud charges

Erica Meltzer

Posted: 02/26/2010 07:30:55 PM MST

A 53-year-old Longmont man has been indicted on charges of running a charitable fraud scheme over the Internet that took in more than $180,000 from at least 707 victims.

According to a state grand jury indictment, Mark L. Schifter used the Web site of his company, Perpetual Technologies, which sells high-end audio and stereo equipment, to advertise numerous charity raffles. The Web site, www.AV123.com, has an active users forum with hundreds of members around the country.

The indictment says Schifter ran at least 27 known charity raffles between October 2004 and August 2009. He would offer desirable stereo equipment as prizes and a write emotional appeals for charities ranging from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to the American Red Cross to The Children's Hospital of Denver. Sometimes he would solicit donations for real people who were actually sick.

According to the indictment, only $29,500 was given to the charities. Schicter kept $150,534 for himself.

The indictment says he did not get permission from the charities to run the raffles in their names, and most of the organizations were unaware the raffles were ever held.

"This scam not only defrauded Colorado consumers, but it also preyed on their generosity," Colorado Attorney General John Suthers said in a press release.

The Longmont police and investigators from the Attorney General's Office worked together to obtain the indictment.

Schicter was arrested on Friday afternoon and booked into the Boulder County Jail.

He faces charges of theft of more than $20,000, running a charitable fraud scheme, using the name of a charity without authorization, running a computer fraud scheme and violating raffle laws.

Mike Saccone, a spokesman for the attorney general, said he could not discuss details of the investigation, including how authorities first became aware of the raffles.

BADGE FRAUD - POLICE FIRE CRIMELINE