Collection Agency Raided; Two Charged In Telemarketing Scheme

Internal Revenue Service agents and local law enforcement raided collection agency Maxwell, Turner & Associates Inc.'s office in Monrovia, Calif. on Friday and arrested two suspects for allegedly scamming local businesses out of millions of dollars in a telemarketing scheme.

The suspects, Anthony Vasquez, 27, and Stefan Lemar Miller, 31, face wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering charges for the telemarketing scheme. Each of the alleged crimes include potential penalties of more than 20 years in prison and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines.

United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner, in the Eastern District of California, announced the arrests.

According to complaints filed with the Better Business Bureau in California, reported by Collections & Credit Risk in May, see story, Maxwell, Turner & Associates charged businesses an upfront fee to collect court-ordered judgments and then severed ties with the businesses.

Letterhead for the company lists a Fresno, Calif. address that is a UPS store. The company had a Bakersfield, Calif. telephone number at one point that went to an answering machine with an outdated phone messages. Attempts to reach the company for comment were unsuccessful.