6 Accused of Running ‘Boiler Room’ Bunco Plot

Six Los Angeles-area men have been accused in federal indictments of operating an illegal “boiler room” telephone solicitation scheme in which victims paid $39 in incidental costs for supposedly free gifts.

The 20 counts of mail fraud in the two indictments, one returned in Los Angeles federal court Thursday and the other Aug. 15, allege that individuals living in the Los Angeles area and elsewhere in the country were telephoned and told that they had won one of four “free” gifts--a home computer, a piano, a grandfather clock or a color television.

But to receive the “free” gift, $39 for “shipping and handling” costs or for “California gift taxes” had to be paid, Assistant U.S. Atty. Sharon Ellingsen said. In nearly all cases, the people who paid the fees never got the “free” gift, she said.

Named in the indictments were Laszlo Bossanyi, 42; Gaspar Istvan, 47; Akos Janos Deak, 34; Thomas Rolph, 38; David Stein, 40, and Michael Allen David, 24.

Bossanyi and Deak have been arrested. The remaining suspects are still being sought, Ellingsen said.

The men, if convicted, could face an alternative fine of $250,000 for each of 15 counts contained in one of the indictments because of provisions in the new Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984, Ellingsen said. The usual maximum sentence for mail fraud is five years’ imprisonment and a $1,000 fine for each count.