STUDIO CITY : 2 Men Sentenced for Phony Invoices

A Studio City man and his accomplice were sentenced to 30 days on a Caltrans work crew Thursday for sending phony invoices for office supplies to businesses throughout the country, the city attorney’s office said.

Gil Mordechy, 22, of Studio City and Ronen B. Cohen, 25, of San Diego were sentenced in Los Angeles Municipal Court after they pleaded no contest to attempted grand theft, city attorney spokesman Mike Qualls said. The men were also sentenced to three years probation, he said.

The two men were accused of obtaining a third-class bulk mailing permit to mail more than 7,000 bills for office supplies supposedly purchased from Office Products Supply Inc., a nonexistent business, Qualls said.

U.S. postal inspectors launched an investigation into the scam after receiving hundreds of complaints from businesses that received the phony bills, Qualls said. Checks from the businesses that were turned over to authorities by the two men will be returned to the senders, he said.