File # PE222860063

Details:

Recently, deputies from the Perris Station, have fielded numerous complaints from community members about subjects using signs to solicit money at the intersection of Perris Boulevard and Nuevo Road in the city of Perris. These subjects had either been soliciting money for a sick child or to help with funeral expenses for a loved one.

On October 13, 2022, the Perris Station Problem Oriented Policing Team responded to that intersection and conducted an investigation in regards to subjects soliciting money for a funeral, standing in the center median, and running into traffic. During the investigation, it was determined the deceased individual listed on the sign was fictitious, and there was no funeral at all. Three juveniles, ages 17, 14, and 13, were detained for soliciting and theft by false pretenses, and later released. The sign used, as well as the money collected by the subjects, were seized.

The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department discourages residents from donating money to anyone with a homemade sign seeking money because, in most instances, it is a scam. If anyone sees a solicitor with a sign, they are encouraged to report it to the Riverside Sheriff’s Department or their local police department.

For media inquiries regarding this incident please contact the Media Information Bureau.

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Two adults, Davide Nistor and Ana Maria Dumitru, both 18 and reside in Anaheim, were arrested and booked into the Cois Byrd Detention Center for soliciting and theft by false pretenses. Two juveniles, 16 and 14, were also taken into custody and later released to child protective services.

The signs used as well as the $589 collected by the suspects were seized.

The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department discourages residents from donating money to anyone with a homemade sign seeking money, because, in most instances, it’s a scam. If anyone sees a solicitor with a sign, they are encouraged to report it to the Sheriff’s Department or their local police department.

For media inquiries regarding this incident please contact the Media Information Bureau.

Find your latest news here at the Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle

The post Fundraiser Scam appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Southern California man who bilked investors worldwide out of $147 million in a pyramid scheme was sentenced Monday to 10 years in federal prison.

Steve Chen, 63, of the Los Angeles-area suburb of Bradbury, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge John F. Walter, who said Chen’s “litany of lies” promoted a scam of “epic proportions,” according to a statement from the U.S. attorney’s office.

Chen owned U.S. Fine Investment Arts, Inc. Between 2013 and 2015. The firm sold fake investments, “points” for shares when the company went public and a phony digital currency called “Gem Coins” that it claimed were backed by non-existent mines for amber and other gemstones in the U.S., the Dominican Republic, Argentina and Mexico, prosecutors said.

Some 72,000 victims invested. In the style of a classic pyramid scheme, some money was used to repay early investors but most lost their money to Chen, authorities said.

“The company did not generate any significant revenue from its business operations, apart from sales of investment packages to victim-investors,” the U.S. attorney’s office said.

Chen pleaded guilty last summer to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of tax evasion. He was ordered to repay nearly $1.9 million to the Internal Revenue Service and a July court hearing was scheduled to decide how much he must repay investors.

Leonard Johnson, 54, of Huntington Beach, who worked with Chen, pleaded guilty in 2019 to tax evasion and making a false statement on an immigration document. He awaits sentencing.

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