Two Sentenced in Telemarketing Scheme

A teacher and assistant football coach at Ribet Academy were sentenced Tuesday to 28 months in federal prison for managing a telemarketing fraud scheme.

Using the business name of “Reader’s Unlimited,” Horace Crenshaw, 54, of Diamond Bar had his employees call people and inform them they had won a prize.

To claim their prizes, the victims first had to pay a fee. The prizes never came, but Reader’s Unlimited collected more than $500,000 in fees, according to Assistant U.S. Atty. Manuel A. Abascal.

Crenshaw, who pleaded guilty to mail fraud earlier this year, asked for leniency based on his work as a teacher. Chief U.S. District Court Judge Terry J. Hatter Jr. denied his request and ordered him to pay $563,840 in restitution.