CYPRESS : Police Close Firm, Allege Sales Scam

Police shut down an alleged “boiler room” operation Tuesday at the United Supply Center.

Authorities claim the firm called businesses throughout the country and, through misrepresentation, got them to pay for overpriced copier ink cartridges they never ordered.

After conducting a six-month undercover investigation, police armed with a search warrant confiscated telephones, phone directories and business records, and detained 18 employees for questioning.

The search helped “gather evidence for the case against United Supply Center so we can shut them down permanently because they’re fraudulently ripping people off with their scam,” Lt. Jim Weuve said.

No one was arrested, but manager Cale M. Munson, 23, of Anaheim was cited for alleged possession of marijuana.

According to authorities, the business operated 40 phone lines out of a garage on Bishop Street. Employees said they were surprised when police arrived, and claimed their work was legitimate.

“I kind of expected something like this would happen some day because we do telemarketing and people get (upset) when we call, but I didn’t think what we were doing was illegal and it’s not,” said Brian Lewis, 29, who has worked for the business for more than a year.

Other employees expressed anger because they are now jobless.

“I took this job because I was desperate,” said Jesus Tarango, 27, who lives in a hotel in Anaheim. “I was told and was under the impression that this job was legal as long as we followed the (sales) pitch, word for word.”

That pitch, police said, is what got the business in trouble.

Several corporations complained of being shipped a single cartridge of copy machine toner, which sells in stores for about $70, at a cost of $500, Weuve said. He said the corporations claimed they had never ordered the item.

Former employees also lodged complaints about the business’s practices, Weuve said.

He said the telemarketers would call all kinds of large businesses to get the make and model of their copy machines and tell them that they were going to send a free manual.

A week or two later, however, the callers would again contact the businesses, informing them that the toner--which was never ordered--was on its way, Weuve said. The bill would then be sent along with the ink cartridge.