Authorities say Stephan E. Alexander had licensed people sponsor him as a trainee but never took the test required to sell the devices.
By CHRIS TISCH
Published August 24, 2004
LARGO - The former operator of a hearing aid center has been extradited to Pinellas County to face more than a dozen charges of selling the devices without a license.
Stephan E. Alexander, 52, was booked Saturday into the Pinellas County Jail, where he was being held in lieu of $60,000 bail.
Alexander operated Hearing Care Center offices in Clearwater and Belleair Bluffs in 2001 and 2002. No one at the centers was licensed to sell or distribute hearing aids, authorities said.
Rather than pass the requirements to get a license, Alexander had gotten a number of people who had licenses to sponsor him as a trainee. Though he was supposed to sell the hearing devices only with the sponsor present, Alexander allegedly sold them on his own. When it was time for him to take the licensing exam, he would dump his old sponsor and find a new one, prosecutors said.
Because Alexander wasn't qualified, the hearing aids he distributed either didn't fit correctly or made strange noises, authorities said. One man returned 20 times for adjustments before the office closed.
About 15 victims bought faulty hearing aids from the company. When they tried to get their money back, they were refused, arrest reports state. The offices closed in 2002.
The total loss to each victim averaged about $4,000.
Alexander, who has previous arrests for cocaine possession, writing worthless checks and battery, had offices at 1700 McMullen-Booth Road in Clearwater and at 2932 West Bay Drive in Belleair Bluffs.
He also invited seniors to luncheon seminars where he explained the benefits of hearing aids, then offered free hearing exams.
The Pinellas Department of Justice and Consumer Services began investigating the business when customers started filing complaints in 2002.
Warrants for Alexander's arrest were issued in September, though prosecutors believed he had skipped town. He later was apprehended in Arizona and extradited to Pinellas County.
One of Alexander's associates, Stephan J. Hicks, 25, was arrested in March on six charges of dispensing hearing aids without a license. He is still awaiting trial.
