Orlando, FL – A Massachusetts woman who admitted she was guilty of running a Central Florida-based timeshare scam gets prison time.
Tammie Lynn Cline of Leominster was sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in federal lockup and has to pay back over $1.2 million to the victims, according to a press release sent Monday by the United States Department of Justice.
Cline was facing up to 20 years in federal prison prior to the hearing in front of senior US District Judge John Antoon II.
The 33-year-old Cline and 28-year-old Mark Gardner – an Osteen resident – were indicted last January for scamming timeshare owners looking to sell their property out of at least $1.6 million dollars.
Cline – who took a plea deal in July – was facing up to 160 years in prison if she had been convicted at trial on 1 count of conspiracy, 5 counts of wire fraud and 4 counts of money laundering.
Gardner took a plea deal in August on charges of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud and money laundering. He will be sentenced on December 3rd, according to DOJ spokesman William Daniels.
DOJ officials say Gardner and Cline hired a team of telemarketers based in Central Florida to make unsolicited calls to timeshare owners throughout the country, claiming to work for Oregon-based Universal Timeshare Sales Associates.
According to the indictment, Gardner and Cline would tell the timeshare owners that UTSA had someone interested in buying their timeshare and that they would arrange the sale of that timeshare for a fee, usually between $1,600 and $2,200.
Prosecutors say Gardner, Cline and their telemarketers would sometimes claim that the person interested in buying was in their showroom, that the buyer already handed down a deposit or that the sale would take place in about 90 days.
DOJ says those timeshares were never sold and that Gardner and Cline would deny or ignore refund requests after they pocketed the fee. They also say that Gardner and Cline would dispute charge backs requested by their victims to their credit card companies.
The Federal Trade Commission and the Florida Attorney General’s Office filed a civil action against Gardner and Cline in May 2013. A permanent injunction forcing them to stop certain telemarketing practices was filed in federal court in June 2014.
Copyright 2015 Southern Stone Communications.