California Woman Pleads Guilty in $640,000 Telemarketing Scam

A California woman has pleaded guilty to her role in a $640,000 telemarketing scam that targeted U.S. residents, federal authorities announced today. Patricia Diane Clark, 56, of Sacramento, California, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering in connection with a Costa Rican telemarketing fraud scheme that targeted U.S. residents.

According to Clark’s plea agreement, from approximately 2007 through February 2013, her co-conspirators called U.S. residents from Costa Rican call centers, falsely informing them that they had won a substantial cash prize in a “sweepstakes.” The victims, many of whom were elderly, were told that in order to receive the prize, they had to send money for a purported “refundable insurance fee.” Clark admitted that she picked up money from the victims and sent it to her co-conspirators in Costa Rica.

Clark also admitted that she managed others who picked up money from the victims in the United States and that she kept a portion of the victims’ payments. The attempts to collect additional money from the victims continued until an individual either ran out of money or discovered the fraudulent nature of the scheme.

Clark admitted that, along with her co-conspirators, she was responsible for approximately $640,000 in losses to hundreds of U.S. citizens. The scheme was part of a larger effort by Costa Rican nationals to scam U.S. residents out of millions of dollars.

In a separate case, Marco Vinicio Fallas Hernandez, 41, a Costa Rican citizen, was charged in a superseding indictment with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, ten counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, and nine counts of international money laundering in connection with a similar telemarketing scheme. Hernandez and his co-conspirators were responsible for causing approximately $10,000,000 in losses to hundreds of U.S. citizens, many of whom are elderly.

Additionally, Paul Ronald Toth Jr., 38, a resident of Bloomingdale, Ohio, was indicted on one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and six counts of international money laundering. Toth allegedly received money from victims of a Costa Rican telemarketing scheme and kept some of the proceeds, wiring the remainder to Costa Rica using numerous persons as senders and recipients, all in a manner designed to conceal and disguise the fraudulent source and nature of the transactions.

These cases were investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, FBI, Internal Revenue Service, Federal Trade Commission, and Department of Homeland Security. The cases are being prosecuted by Senior Litigation Counsel Patricia Gauger, who is with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western District of North Carolina.

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