Telemarketers Sentenced to Federal Prison in Credit Card Scheme

The owners and managers of Gecko Communications – which should not be confused with Geiko, a company that only uses a gecko -- were sentenced to federal prison this week for running a huge telemarketing scam.

What got those little rascals there?  A scam wherein Gecko employees falsely sold "preapproved" credit cards to more than 80,000 consumers with poor credit. The consumers paid fees of up to $229.95 between August 1999 and February 2001 but received only credit card applications in return.

Co-owners Zachery T. Whitehill, 30, of Sahuarita, Ariz., and Christopher J. Ekeland, 39, of Shawnee, were sentenced to 11¼ years and 4 years respectively. As part of his plea agreement, Ekeland also agreed to forfeit $10.6 million and other property.

Just because they’re in prison doesn’t mean that there has to be a end to office gossip – especially since most of the office will be in prison with Zach and Chris:

Several office managers also were sentenced, including: Bradley L. Lovstad, 45, of Muscatine, Iowa, and Monty E. Wanless, 31, of Kansas City, to eight years and one month each; Jaime E. Cook, 31, of Kansas City, to five years; Steven T. Rice, 45, of Kansas City, to nearly three years; Christopher L. Carlson, 37, of Glenwood, Iowa, and Jason R. Spencer, 27, of Osceola, Iowa, to two years each; and, Matt Thomas, 29, of Brooklyn, Iowa, to three years of probation.

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