Telemarketing Firm Alleged to Be Phony

Authorities are searching for a man who allegedly ran a phony telemarketing operation that defrauded 28 people in 15 states, the Los Angeles city attorney announced Tuesday.

Mark Phillip Sugarman, 37, is charged with three counts of grand theft in connection with a Studio City business called Medical Alert, said Ted Goldstein, a spokesman for City Atty. Jim Hahn. A conviction on each count would carry a sentence of up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

A $50,000 warrant has been issued for Sugarman’s arrest.

His hometown is unknown, and the warrant only applies to California, Goldstein said.

The criminal complaint filed late Monday mentions alleged victims in California, New Jersey, Tennessee, Maine, Ohio, New York, Florida, Arizona, Colorado, Minnesota, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Maryland and Illinois.

Hahn had been monitoring Sugarman’s activities since December, when the city attorney issued a “consumer warning” to note the difference between Medical Alert and the better-known Medic Alert Foundation. The city attorney’s office got involved after Medic Alert Foundation notified authorities of numerous complaints from customers who said they were contacted by Medical Alert, Goldstein said.

Medic Alert sells bracelets and necklaces that describe subscribers’ medical conditions in case of emergency.

Sugarman’s firm also offered bracelets and wallet cards for a fee.

But Goldstein said evidence suggests that Sugarman’s company did not maintain any computerized data on customers that would be provided to doctors in an emergency.