Publish Date: 2/27/2010
Longmont man accused of charity fraud
By Scott Rochat
© 2010 Longmont Times-Call
A grand jury has indicted 53-year-old Mark L. Schifter of Longmont on suspicion of stealing $180,034 through a charity fraud.
Colorado Attorney General John Suthers announced the indictment Friday. He said the grand jury accused Schifter of running 27 illegal charity raffles online at his company's main Web site, www.AV123.com, and then keeping most of the money for himself.
"Of that amount, only $29,500 was ever given to the ostensible recipients of the donated raffle money," the grand jury said in its indictment. "Many charities that Mark Schifter said would receive large amounts of donations from his raffles, in fact, received nothing."
Schifter heads Perpetual Technologies, a company that sells high-end audio equipment. According to the indictment, he is believed to have run the raffles between Oct. 18, 2004, and Aug. 25, 2009, through an online forum at the AV123 site. At one point, the indictment said, he even set up a PayPal account to make it easier to donate.
Each raffle included an expensive piece of audio equipment as a prize, the indictment said, as well as an emotional appeal for help written by Schifter.
"The scam not only defrauded Colorado consumers, but it also preyed on their generosity," Suthers said in a statement Friday.
A total of 707 people from across the United States gave to the raffles, Suthers said. The causes promoted by the raffles included the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, The Children's Hospital of Denver, Russian orphanages, the Salvation Army and the American Red Cross efforts to help victims of Hurricane Katrina, according to the indictment.
Schifter ran each raffle without a license and without permission to use the names of the charities, the indictment claims.
"In fact, most of the organizations were unaware that a so-called raffle was being held to benefit them," the grand jury said in its indictment.
The grand jury indicted Schifter on five counts, consisting of:
• Theft of $20,000 or more.
• Committing a computer crime to scheme or defraud $20,000 or more.
• Violating raffle law by failing to get a charitable gaming license.
• Charitable fraud.
• Use of an organization's name without authorization in connection with a charitable fraud.
Suthers said his office worked with the Longmont Police Department to get the indictment.
Suthers also said that those wanting to investigate a Colorado charity can go online to www.checkthecharity.org.
Charities also can be checked out through the Boulder/Denver office of the Better Business Bureau at www.denver.bbb.org/charity.
Scott Rochat can be reached at 303-684-5220 or srochat@times-call.com.
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Longmont man sentenced to 20 years probation for illegal charity rafflesBy Vanessa Miller, Camera staff writerPOSTED: 10/15/2010 08:34:37 AM MDTUPDATED: 10/15/2010 01:09:23 PM MDT
A 54-year-old Longmont man has been sentenced to 20 years of probation and two years of work release for defrauding Colorado residents through fraudulent charity raffles.
Mark L. Schifter also will be required to pay $110,000 in restitution to his victims, according to Colorado Attorney General John Suthers.
Schifter used his two companies — www.AV123.com and Perpetual Technologies — to post information online about 27 illegal charity raffles between October 2004 and August 2009, according to his indictment. He would offer desirable stereo equipment as prizes and write emotional appeals for charities ranging from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to the American Red Cross to the Children's Hospital of Denver.
He would occasionally solicit donations for real people who were actually sick, according to the indictment.
The indictment says he didn't get permission from the charities to run the raffles in their names, and most of the organizations were unaware the raffles were ever held.
During the five-year period, Schifter stole nearly $180,000 from 707 victims using the fraudulent raffles. Many of the charities advertised as benefactors of the online games received no money, according to the indictment.
Investigators from the Office of the Attorney General partnered with Longmont police to obtain the indictment.
Anyone wanting more information about charities or charitable solicitors can visit www.checkthecharity.com to find information on charities operating in Colorado or soliciting contributions from Colorado consumers.
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