Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Southern District of Illinois
Monday, Oct. 20, 2014
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Stephen R. Wigginton, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, announced that on Oct. 20, 2014, Wesley Aldred, 26, of Palm Beach Gardens, FL, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud in connection with telemarketing. The investigation determined that Aldred was a telemarketer at C&G Marketing Associates, LLC, a Florida corporation that in 2009 defrauded consumers using the fictitious name, Premier Timeshare Solutions (“PTS"). In various court filings related to the PTS scam, the government has alleged that the overall scam bilked consumers of $14.5 million from over 7,000 people throughout the United States and Canada, including dozens of victims within the Southern District of Illinois. Sentencing is set for February 9, 2015, at 11:00 a.m., in East St. Louis, Illinois, where Aldred will face up to 25 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, and up to 5 years of supervised release.
This prosecution is one of nearly 50 timeshare resale fraud prosecutions brought in the Southern District of Illinois over the past four years. The case is part of an ongoing investigation by the St. Louis Field Office of the Chicago Division of the United States Postal Inspection Service with assistance from the Florida Attorney General’s Office and the Florida Department of Agriculture. The case is being prosecuted by Special Assistant United States Attorney Michael Hallock and Assistant United States Attorney William Coonan.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
