San Diego : Indictment Details Telemarketing Scam

Two owners of a defunct telemarketing firm were among 17 defendants who pleaded not guilty to federal conspiracy and fraud charges at a trial in Ft. Worth, Tex.

Richard A. Fregien of San Diego and Phillip Joe White, both former owners of Multicorp Inc., and the other suspects were free on personal recognizance bonds until an Aug. 31 trial pending before Judge John McBryde, Assistant U.S. Atty. Richard Roper said Monday.

Federal postal inspectors accuse Fregien, 27; White, 51, of Arlington, Tex., and the others associated with Ft. Worth-based Multicorp in a telemarketing scam believed to have reaped $9 million.

Customers were offered chances to win lavish prizes if they bought $400 water purifiers or home security systems. More than 50,000 people nationwide were cheated in the scheme between February, 1989, and May, 1990, according to investigators.

Multicorp telemarketers told callers that, to be eligible to win prizes, they had to buy a purifier or an alarm. But customers reportedly received only the appliances and not the awards.

An 87-count indictment also named phone solicitors, owners of some out-of-state businesses that processed credit card transactions, and brokers believed to have made those arrangements.