Suspects in Credit Repair Pyramid Scheme Sought : Inquiry: Riverside deputies would like to question pair facing Anaheim forgery charges.

Riverside County sheriff’s deputies, investigating a nationwide pyramid scheme, are looking for two former Temecula area residents who had been arrested in Anaheim late last month on forgery charges.

Anaheim police confiscated more than $300,000 in cash along with a new laser printer and arrested David Key and Kim Renshaw just before Thanksgiving at the Anaheim Hilton and Towers on suspicion of forging documents, Sheriff’s Investigator Mark Lohman said.

“They were bailed out shortly after their arrest and no longer live in our area,” Lohman said. “We don’t know their whereabouts.”

He said deputies also are looking for Key’s wife, Marie. The sheriff’s office will seek warrants for their arrest, he said.

The three have been identified in numerous complaints from people around the country who have turned over $1,200 each for a credit rehabilitation program that actually costs $125, Lohman said.

The so-called endless chain pyramid scheme, he said, relied on buyers to recruit new purchasers who, in turn, would recruit others to buy the program, a legitimate product that helps people restore their credit-worthiness.

Hilton hotel security officers became suspicious of a couple who checked in as David and Kim Roberts on Nov. 17. For days, they were locked in their room, ordering meals from room service to be left outside their door, Lohman said.

When the woman left her handbag in the lobby and called down for it, security officers opened it to check the identity of its owner and found three different identifications from separate states, the investigator said.

Anaheim police began watching the couple and eventually obtained warrants to search their room and a safe deposit box they had rented.

“When talking with Anaheim police, they said they were under investigation by us,” Lohman said. “Anaheim police called us, and we began to work together on the case.”

The quick release of the the pair on bail, however, stymied Riverside County authorities. Anaheim police declined to comment.