Attorney General's News Release

December 9, 1996

California telemarketer given four years on fraud charge

Jefferson City, Mo. — A southern California man was sentenced today in Cole County Circuit Court to four years in prison after he was convicted of making fraudulent telemarketing calls into Missouri.

The criminal charge of unlawful merchandising practices against Lawrence Paul Behmer Jr., 23, was brought by Attorney General Jay Nixon as part of a continuing crackdown on telephone fraud. Behmer, of Sherman Oaks, Calif., admitted using a false name and calling into the state to try to persuade an elderly Columbia woman to send him money. The intended victim's phone calls were forwarded to an undercover investigator with the Attorney General's Office, who tape-recorded the conversation.

Behmer and another man, Mathew Bertram Grob, were arrested in November 1995 by local authorities in California, who worked in cooperation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Missouri Attorney General's Office. The pair was extradited to Cole County to stand trial; last May, Grob was given a five-year prison sentence.

Behmer admitted in court that he and his company, All Star Products, fraudulently sought to obtain money by representing that the money would be used to pay fees connected with the woman's prize award. The woman was told that she had won one of four prizes, which included a $20,000 cashier's check and a new car. Behmer admitted that he did not intend to use the money for this purpose or to award a prize.

Behmer also admitted that during the telephone conversation, he used a false name and gave a false address for his company; misrepresented the actual number of prize winners; and misrepresented that All Star Products did business with large retailers such as Walmart, Kmart, Sears and J.C. Penney.

The crackdown on telemarketing fraud last week included a “reverse boiler room” operation, where Nixon, other state attorneys general, and senior volunteers telephoned senior citizens whose names were on seized boiler room lists, to warn them that they were vulnerable to fraudulent schemes.

“We will continue to make this state unfriendly territory to fraudulent telemarketers,” Nixon said. “As evidenced by today's sentencing, con men who dial into Missouri face tough prison time if they are convicted.”

Inquiries from consumers should be directed to consumer@ago.mo.gov or 1-800-392-8222 (from within Missouri) or 573-751-3321 (outside Missouri).

All media inquiries should be directed to Press Secretary John Fougere.

E-mail      Phone: 573-751-8844         Fax: 573-751-5818