Telemarketer Fined $425,000, Sentenced to 5-Year Prison Term

A Los Angeles telemarketer whose scheme targeted the elderly pleaded guilty to 110 counts of grand theft Wednesday and must spend five years in prison and pay $425,000 restitution, a prosecutor said.

Superior Court Judge Michael Cowell sentenced Ross Stanley Berton, 49, who defrauded victims in 31 states, Deputy Dist. Atty. Laura Aalto said. Cowell claimed that the victims had won a car or cash but needed to pay half the taxes upfront.

Aalto said the victims, whose average age was 76, were instructed to mail a cashier’s check to a post office box using overnight mail.

Aalto said Berton used a series of different names and collected the checks from different post office boxes in the Los Angeles area.

“The victims are elderly and from small towns,” Aalto said. “They are lonely and can be bullied into believing they can get something for nothing.”

Berton was charged Aug. 28 for telemarketing fraud that occurred between August 1994 and June 1995. He offered the victims the choice between a Lincoln Continental and $35,000 cash, Aalto said.