2 Men Face Charges of Mail Fraud : Arraignments: The Encino residents are accused of bilking 150 investors out of $1.2 million in a bogus oil well scheme in 1984 and 1985.

Two Encino men who allegedly bilked investors out of more than $1.2 million by selling shares in bogus oil wells will be arraigned Monday in federal court on charges of mail fraud.

Peter Stanford, 42, and Anthony Colagreco, 32, promised more than 150 investors from around the country substantial returns on shares in oil-producing wells owned by American Southwest Petroleum Ltd., according to a federal indictment unsealed Thursday.

The shares, which sold for between $2,500 and $3,000 each, were for wells that salesmen said were already producing oil, although only one well ever produced oil, the indictment charges.

Stanford and Colagreco will each face 19 counts of mail fraud in U. S. District Court in Los Angeles.

The indictment was the culmination of a joint investigation of the offices of the U. S. Attorney and the Los Angeles County district attorney, said Terree Bowers of the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The two offices have cooperated in the past to prosecute oil and gas investment scams operating in Southern California.

Stanford was arrested Thursday by postal inspectors and was released later on $25,000 bail and also was required to post additional property, Bowers said.

Stanford’s attorney, Tom Nolan, said the charges were unfounded but refused further comment.

Bail had not been set for Colagreco, who was not arrested because of a deal between his attorney and investigators, said Don M. Tamura of the district attorney’s office. Colagreco’s attorney did not return telephone calls Thursday.

According to the indictment, Stanford and Colagreco operated American Southwest, a telephone sales operation in West Los Angeles, in 1984 and 1985. Telephone salesmen, who called themselves account executives, solicited prospective investors and were offered shares in wells already producing oil in Oklahoma and Kansas.

The indictment charges that only one well owned by the company ever produced oil. Other wells drilled by the company at three locations produced only water. A fourth location touted as having oil-producing wells was never drilled, the indictment claims.

To maintain the appearance that the wells were producing oil, Stanford and Colagreco mailed progress reports detailing false production levels, Bowers said. They also sent small checks to investors, claiming that they were returns, he said. Stanford and Colagreco returned about $38,000 to investors, according to the indictment.

The indictment also alleges that American Southwest was established in October, 1984, with $50,000 solicited from a woman who was promised that her money would be invested in oil wells.