Home New Haven Press Releases 2009 Ohio Man Sentenced to Two Years in Federal Prison for Million Dollar Fraud Scheme
Info
This is archived material from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) website. It may contain outdated information and links may no longer function.

Ohio Man Sentenced to Two Years in Federal Prison for Million Dollar Fraud Scheme

U.S. Attorney’s Office October 19, 2009
  • District of Connecticut (203) 821-3700

Nora R. Dannehy, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that TIMOTHY P. HEIDEL, 53, of Kings Mills, Ohio, was sentenced today by Senior United States District Judge Peter C. Dorsey in New Haven to 24 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for defrauding 44 call center service providers out of more than $1 million. On June 16, 2009, HEIDEL pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud stemming from the scheme.

According to court documents and statements made in court, from 2001 through 2008, HEIDEL defrauded 44 call center service providers by making false promises of new business that he could bring to any company that would hire him. During the first four years of his scheme, HEIDEL misrepresented that he was actively affiliated with a Missouri-based company that provided call center services to client corporations; that the company was being sold and no longer wished to be in the business of managing call centers; that the company had several large corporate call center clients for which HEIDEL was responsible; that HEIDEL had permission to take several specific corporate call center clients to his new employer, and those clients would be worth several million dollars in business to his new employer; and that each victim company would have to pay HEIDEL a significant advance on his future commissions in order to hire him, in addition to a regular salary. However, none of these representations were true.

Based on these misrepresentations, each victim company hired HEIDEL, paid him a significant advance on his future commissions, and agreed to pay him a salary. HEIDEL neither provided any new business to any of the victim companies, nor did he return any money paid to him by the victim companies. In addition, HEIDEL had been let go by the Missouri company in 2000 for poor performance.

In 2005, some of the victim companies, having received no new business from HEIDEL, contacted the Missouri company and discovered the fraud. Even though the fraud was brought to the attention of law enforcement and several civil lawsuits were brought against the defendant, HEIDEL continued to seek out new victims. Rather than make representations specifically based on the Missouri company, HEIDEL simply promised these new victims lucrative new contracts based on a supposed myriad of existing clients. Just as in the earlier phase, each and every one of the promises HEIDEL made to these victims was false. HEIDEL did not have the contacts he alleged, did not have the new business he promised to his victims, failed to provide any new business to his victims and failed to return the advances he was paid.

In all, HEIDEL defrauded the 44 call center service providers out of approximately $1.14 million. Today, Judge Dorsey indicated his intention to order HEIDEL to make full restitution to all of his victims.

This matter was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David E. Novick.

This content has been reproduced from its original source.