Charges Laid in Debt Collection Scheme

5 people in the US have had charges filed against them following their involvement in a local debt collection scheme according to the Ventura County District Attorney's Office.

The 5 people, named as Timothy Burke, Deisi Rivera, Angela Covarrubias, Veronica Ventura and Elizabeth Olvera, were charged with multiple felony counts including money laundering, rand theft, theft from an elder and conspiracy to commit false advertising. Additionally they have been charged with aggravated white-collar crime enhancement of stealing more than US$100,000

The District Attorney allege that Burke and Rivera ran several fraudulent debt collection agencies from 2013 to 2017 where they offered debt collection services to victims where they would collect fees upfront and utilise those fees to pay for their own personal expenses instead of providing a service or repaying Creditors. It is alleged that Ventura joined the scheme in 2015 as the General Manager with Covarrubias and Olvera involved in the management of the scheme since 2016.

Investigations by the District Attorney are continuing in conjunction with the FBI with Burke and Rivera currently in custody in lieu of a US$1.1 million bail, Covarrubias and Olvera are on bail and Ventura is on supervised community release pending their Court date.

Source: VC Star - November 2017