FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	CONTACT: Lauren Horwood
January 30, 2012	PHONE: (916) 554-2706
www.usdoj.gov/usao/cae	usacae.edcapress@usdoj.gov
Docket #: 2:11-cr-183

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced that Carlos B. Jerez, 35, formerly of Sacramento, and most recently of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., pleaded guilty today to 16 counts of wire fraud for defrauding customers of his motorized wheelchair and scooter business.

This case is the product of an investigation by the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office as part of the Sacramento Valley Hi-Tech Crimes Task Force, which is a partnership between state and local law enforcement to investigate crimes including fraud using computers and the Internet. Assistant United States Attorney Matthew G. Morris is prosecuting the case.

According to court documents, Jerez was the owner of 1st Class Mobility Inc., a business that offered to sell motorized wheelchairs and scooters over the Internet. Between April 2008 and April 2009, Jerez and 1st Class Mobility received payment from consumers for motorized wheelchairs and scooters without the ability or intention of delivering the devices. Despite receiving prepayment for the chairs, Jerez would not deliver the products ordered by the customers and would make various misrepresentations about the status of the products, such as claiming that the products had shipped, or were stuck in customs, or were on a slow ship from China. Jerez would falsely claim that refunds were available or that a refund check had been issued. A number of the victims were disabled, elderly, or disabled veterans.  

Jerez is scheduled to be sentenced by United States District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller on May 21, 2012. The maximum statutory penalty for a violation of wire fraud is 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.

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