VENTURA : 2 Women Convicted in Marketing Scam

More than 50 complaints by local residents have resulted in the arrest and conviction of two women who ran a Ventura telemarketing firm that reportedly bilked consumers of more than $6,000.

Patricia Lee Darcy, 21, and Shahrokh Mireskandari, 29, both of Los Angeles, pleaded guilty last month to misdemeanor charges of violating telemarketing registration requirements, said Linda S. Groberg, spokeswoman for the Ventura County district attorney’s office.

Darcy and Mireskandari operated Ventura International Advertising from early February through May, 1989.

Consumers were told by the telemarketers that they had been randomly selected to receive round-trip air fares and accommodations for two at one of a variety of locations around the world, all for less than the price of standard coach air fare. However, coach air fare is not discounted, Groberg said, and is generally the most expensive air fare with the exception of first class.

The participants then paid $69.95 for a plastic 35mm camera or pocket stereo with headphones and a bonus trip good for three days and two nights at a variety of hotels in California and Nevada, Groberg said.

“Several consumers showed up at hotels with the certificates,” Groberg said, “and no one knew anything about it.”

Participants also paid an additional $20 to another firm to obtain a reservation. Despite the promise that local travel agents would be used, most consumers were assigned to travel agencies in Nevada or Florida, where additional undisclosed fees were required for the travel arrangements, Groberg said.

More than 50 residents called the consumer and environmental protection division of the Ventura County district attorney’s office to complain.

Mireskandari was sentenced in Los Angeles Municipal Court on Feb. 13 to three years probation and ordered to serve 90 days in the criminal justice work release program in Los Angeles County.

She also was ordered to pay restitution of $6,813.90 to those consumers who had already complained to the district attorney’s office and to pay additional restitution to victims who may come to the office’s attention.

Darcy will be sentenced March 15.

Groberg said that anyone who might have been a victim of the telemarketing scheme should notify the Ventura County Corrections Services Agency in writing for possible restitution.