Cobb Woman Guilty in Telemarketing Scam

A Marietta woman whose husband has pleaded guilty to telemarketing fraud charges was convicted by a federal jury on Monday for her role in the $25 million nationwide scheme. 

Kara Singleton Adams, 40, was found guilty on nine counts of wire fraud, seven counts of structuring financial transactions and two counts of conspiracy.

Her husband, Jason James Eyer, 35, also of Marietta, James Adolph Schoenholz, 39, of Atlanta, and Brittany Dunphy, 40, of Orlando, Fla., all pleaded guilty before Adams' trial of conspiring to defraud consumers with credit card interest rate deduction programs through various schemes and companies, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Atlanta.

They were indicted in early 2010 and the fraudulent activities occurred during 2008 and 2009.

U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said Adams and Eyer spent millions of dollars derived from the scheme on luxury hotels, high-end shopping, jewelers, casinos, exotic automobiles and private tutoring for their children.

According to the indictments, consumers in 46 states received automated phone calls and were connected to a telemarketer, who promised them lower interest rates on their credit cards and to help them get out of debt faster. Consumers were charged between $749 and $1,495 for the services and were promised a full refund of their purchase price if they did not achieve $4,000 in savings.

But according to the evidence presented at the trial, consumers were not provided the services they paid for. Yates said the defendants set up at least three fake companies based in Atlanta -- VP Marketing, Economic Relief Technologies and SafeRide Warranty -- and used other phantom company names as cover for the fraudulent services. 

In December 2009, the Federal Trade Commission issued a restraining order against Adams, Eyer and Schoenholz and a receiver was appointed to take over the fake companies. According to trial evidence, all three were in the Philippines setting up an identical business, and Adams instructed two family members to remove documents and computers related to the scheme at her Marietta home and hide them. Dunphy received the items, sold them and wired the proceeds to Eyer in the Philippines, the indictments said.

“This started out with automated phone calls to consumers in almost every state in the United States, and the scheme quickly escalated to high-pressure telemarketing sales pitches," Yates said. "This case demonstrates that people need to carefully research any person or firm who makes promises to reduce or eliminate debt in a way that seems too good to be true, because fraudsters are out there seeking to prey on their economic situation.”

Eyer, who has agreed to a binding sentence of 10 years and six months in prison, and Adams will be sentenced on Jan. 5. She faces a maximum of 25 years for each mail fraud count, 10 years for each structuring count and five years for each conspiracy count. Adams also could be fined up to $500,000 for each structuring account.