Ten Individuals Indicted In $14.5 Million Telemarketing Scam

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Stephen R. Wigginton, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, announced today that a federal grand jury returned ten one-count Indictments for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud against the following individuals:

Suzanne W. Schmier, 42, of Glen Rock, NJ
Wesley S. Aldred, 26, of Palm Beach Gardens, FL
Kelsey E. Wagner, 25, of Delray Beach, FL
Roy E. Rock, 34, of Wilmington, NC
Theresa M Rafferty, 28, of Delray Beach, FL
Virginia S. Miller, 27, of Tequesta, FL
Bradley D. Kartman, 41, of Deerfield Beach, FL
Lev M. Derbaremdiker, 28, of Delray Beach, FL
David Brian Tibbs, 50, of Wytheville, VA
Michelle K. Krapac, 45, of Merrillville, IN

These individuals were employees of C&G Marketing Associates, LLC, a Florida corporation which, in 2009, defrauded consumers across the continent using the fictitious name, Premier Timeshare Solutions (“PTS”). PTS telemarketers worked in an office building in West Palm Beach, Florida. From there, they placed phone calls to timeshare owners, falsely representing or implying that the company had found someone who wanted to buy the person’s timeshare. In exchange for an advance fee that typically exceeded $1,000, the PTS telemarketers promised to handle all the details of the sale and send the victims the proceeds after closing. Once the victims had paid the advance fee, however (usually by giving the telemarketer their credit card information), the fraudulent company simply pocketed the money. There were no interested buyers, the closings did not occur, and the timeshares were not resold.

Victims who called PTS to check on the status of their transactions were directed to customer service representatives, managed by Jose Goyos, whose goal was to perpetuate the fraud by delaying and discouraging chargebacks and complaints. To accomplish that goal, representatives would lie to victims, assuring them that despite some phony, unexpected delay, their timeshare unit was still going to be sold. Repeat callers were given a series of bogus excuses, none of which had any basis in fact. By instilling a false sense of hope, PTS aimed to delay the chargeback process beyond the time that most credit card issuers allow for disputes. Goyos was indicted in September 2013 and sentencing to 96 months of imprisonment on May 2, 2014.

Several others have been charged in connection with PTS and two defendants have pled guilty. During a recent sentencing of Goyos, the Honorable David R. Herndon, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, called timeshare resale fraud an industry that recruits recovering drug addicts to steal from the financially vulnerable – “the most despicable scam in the world.”

An indictment is a formal charge against a defendant. Under the law, a defendant is presumed to be innocent of a charge and is entitled to a fair trial at which the Government must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

United States Attorney Wigginton again warned the public: “I urge all consumers to follow this tried and true advice: if you get a call from someone you do not know and trust, promising something that sounds too good to be true, it is a scam. Hang up. Then, please report the call to the proper authorities.”

This prosecution is one of nearly 50 timeshare resale fraud prosecutions brought in the Southern District of Illinois over the past four years. The case is part of an ongoing investigation by the St. Louis Field Office of the Chicago Division of the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Florida Attorney General’s Office and the Florida Department of Agriculture. The prosecution of the cases is being handled by Special Assistant United States Attorney Michael Hallock and Assistant United States Attorney Liam Coonan.