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2 arrested in time share sales scam

Authorities say that after people sent in service fees, they would get the runaround or find the company's phone had been disconnected.

By JOSH ZIMMER
Published March 24, 2005

TAMPA - Martin Kane got the first call in 2000.

Recently diagnosed with cancer, he wanted to unload his time share property in Myrtle Beach to pay mounting medical bills.

Then, out of the blue a man from a company called Timeshares Unlimited phoned offering to link him with a buyer. All Kane had to do was pay a $300 processing fee. When the sale was completed, he would get the money back along with the proceeds.

"We were in pretty bad shape at that time," said Kane, 69, of Shelby, N.C. "I sent him the money he requested, like a dummy."

He still is trying to find a buyer.

There are legitimate companies that help people sell their time shares. But Timeshares Unlimited wasn't one of them. Kane never got his money back.

Apparently he wasn't alone. Authorities say two local men, Jeremiah C. Peyton and Andre D. Bustamante, scammed at least 1,150 people around the country out of an estimated $350,000.

Following an investigation by the Hillsborough County Consumer Protection Agency, the state Attorney General's Office has arrested Peyton, 26, of Tampa, and Bustamante, 24, of Temple Terrace. They face first-degree grand theft and money laundering charges. Peyton already was in the Citrus County jail on federal drug charges.

Temple Terrace police arrested Bustamante at his father's home. He is being held in the Hillsborough County Jail on $100,000 bail.

The two men face up to 60 years in prison if convicted, Assistant Attorney General Mark Campbell said.

The ruse continued for years, but in 2003 complaints started trickling in, said Rob Robillard, an investigator with the Hillsborough County Consumer Protection Agency. The pair worked from at least two locations in Hillsborough County, targeting out-of-state victims they found through listings for time share owners, he said.

The scam involved an ever-changing array of companies - none of them legally registered in Florida, Robillard said.

Many people are eager to unload their time shares because they are too old to travel or, like Kane, have bills to pay. After people sent their service fees - anywhere from $299 to about $350 - they called to find out about the sale only to get excuses or find the phone disconnected. Their money had been transferred to bank accounts set up in other people's names around the country, Robillard said.

Authorities think they know at least two of the locations where the scam operated.

Peyton's home on Vista Point Drive in Tampa may have been the most recent one. They may also have worked out of The Marquis apartment complex off Bruce B. Downs in New Tampa where Peyton once lived, Robillard said.

The investigation is ongoing, and more arrests are "very possible," he said.

Kane is glad for the arrests, but it doesn't ease the sting of his loss. He said he got another unsolicited call, and this time he asked for a written contract before sending in a $325 fee. After that, nothing happened. He has told investigators about this episode as well. His cancer is now in remission, and Kane finally believes he's found a legitimate company to sell the time share. He's asking $11,500. It can't happen too soon.

"I'd take $8,000 if I can get it," he said. "I need to pay some bills."

Josh Zimmer can be reached at 269-5314 or zimmer@sptimes.com

[Last modified March 24, 2005, 01:19:16]