Carlsbad Man Admits Guilt in Securities Scam

A 24-year-old man who ran a bogus commodities trading operation in Carlsbad has pleaded guilty to three counts of securities fraud.

Lincoln Anthony Berridge, owner of Coastal Equity Inc., entered the guilty plea Wednesday as part of a plea-bargain with the district attorney’s office.

Berridge, a citizen of Trinidad who grew up in Southern California, originally was hit with 24 counts of fraud in the case.

Law enforcement officials raided his firm in May but Berridge was not present. He had remained a fugitive until he was arrested Tuesday at the Vista apartment of his fiancee.

Losses Total $733,000

Losses by investors in the Carlsbad-based precious metals firm totaled at least $733,000, said San Diego County Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Sullivan, a member of the San Diego Boiler Room Task Force that conducted the May raid.

Berridge, who faces up to 16 years in prison and a $30,000 fine, is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 7 in San Diego. His bail has been set at $150,000.

Sullivan said all but $20,000 of the funds collected from investors was spent by Berridge and other employees. The money that has been salvaged will be divided among the more than 100 investors, Sullivan said.

The business employed a core of about 10 workers who would call potential investors drawn from lists known as “lead sheets.” Salespeople would extol the investment advantages of buying precious metals, Sullivan said, but when investors sent in money no precious metals were purchased by the firm.

Employees Charged

After the May raid on the Carlsbad business, most of the employees were charged with misdemeanor counts of failing to register for the proper brokerage licenses.

Mary Ann Stevens, Berridge’s fiancee and a former Coastal Equity employee, pleaded guilty in June to felony grand theft in the case and was sentenced to five years’ probation. Sullivan said the 33-year-old woman drew $4,000 from the firm’s bank account just hours after a warrant was issued for Berridge’s arrest.

Before opening Coastal Equity, Berridge worked at a similar “boiler room” operation in Orange County, Sullivan said. A boiler room is defined as a commodities-trading house or other business that relies on high-pressure telephone solicitation tactics.

The boiler room task force, which consists of federal, state and local law enforcement investigators, has raided seven such precious metals operations since it was formed in May, 1986.