A father and son pleaded guilty yesterday to federal mail fraud charges for operating a Baltimore-based telemarketing scheme that preyed on churches, nursing homes and hospitals across the nation.
Howard "Hank" Bloom, 30, and his father Abrian "Abe" Bloom, 55, took in hundreds of thousands of dollars by contacting more than 22,000 companies between 1989 and 1992, U.S. Attorney Lynne A. Battaglia said.
The men, who live in Pikesville, made their money by overcharging customers for shipments of cleaning chemicals, light bulbs and other products, or by billing customers for unauthorized shipments, according to the prosecutor.
Court documents provide other details of the scheme:
In one common overbilling process, the Blooms used a bogus company to charge customers almost $500 for 5 gallons of all-purpose cleaner -- a product they sold through their local supply company for $23.
Workers hired by the Blooms called prospective customers -- including Mount Carmel Baptist Church in Washington and Pitman Manor nursing home in New Jersey -- from a "boiler-room" telemarketing center in the 3000 block of Greenmount Ave. Callers, using a script provided by the Blooms, posed as agents for about 25 fictitious companies.
The callers were told to speak only to maintenance or kitchen personnel, and their sales pitch implied they had done business with the customers before.
When the Blooms hit on a customer that paid for one fraudulent billing, they followed up with more shipments and bills from other fictitious companies.
Customers that didn't pay got calls from workers claiming to be from a collection agency.
The Blooms cloaked their scheme by giving a different alias for each of the fake companies. By providing only a post-office box as a business address, they prevented customers from returning unwanted goods.
Howard Bloom pleaded guilty to causing about $940,000 in losses to customers; Abrian Bloom pleaded guilty to causing about $350,000 in losses.
Each of the Blooms could be sentenced to a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.