Sun Valley Auto Shade Dealer Sentenced to 2 Years in Scheme

The owner of a Sun Valley company was sentenced Monday to two years in state prison and fined $10,000 for his role in a thwarted 1988 scheme to steal $2.4 million worth of consumer goods from other companies.

The scheme involved establishing fake businesses to act as credit references for California Shade Distributors Inc., an automobile-shade distributing firm that opened in 1985 but has not done any business since 1987.

Using the phony references, Yehiel P. Ram, 33, of North Hollywood, and his partners ordered $2.4 million worth of vacuums, cameras and other electronic goods on credit for California Shade.

As the goods arrived, Ram and co-defendant William B. Chappie, 50, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., sold them quickly to retail outlets. Ram then planned to file for bankruptcy to avoid paying creditors, said U.S. Atty. Gary Lincenberg.

Lincenberg said the pair stole $500,000 worth of merchandise with a similar plot in Florida. The California Shade plan was thwarted when suspicious credit managers alerted authorities, who raided the company warehouse.

About 23 companies lost a total of $140,000 in merchandise before the scheme was stopped. Ram, who pleaded guilty to five counts of mail fraud after his trial began, was ordered to pay more than $69,000 in restitution, Lincenberg said.

Chappie pleaded guilty March 26 to three counts of mail fraud. He is scheduled for sentencing Aug. 6. His brother, Raymond Czaplewski, 53, of Milwaukee, Wis., was sentenced Monday to one year in prison and was fined $6,000.