One of six Coloradans indicted in $300M nationwide fraud scheme receives sentence

Henry Aragon, a 54-year-old Golden resident, was recently ordered by a judge to repay more than $19 million to the more than 150,000 Americans who were victimized by a massive telemarketing scheme.

Aragon was credited devising and carrying out the operation which targeted people "older and otherwise susceptible to fraud" nationwide.

Sixty people from several companies, from upper management to telemarketer positions, were named in three separate indictments announced the U.S. Department of Justice four years ago. Those 60 people resided in and carried out the scheme from 14 states and two Canadian provinces.

Six of those indicted, including Aragon, are from Colorado.

"This case represents the largest elder fraud scheme in the nation," U.S. District of Minnesota Attorney Erica H. MacDonald stated in 2020. Minnesota's was the central office of the investigations and, subsequently, the prosecutions. "Unfortunately, we live in a world where fraudsters are willing to take advantage of seniors, who are often trusting and polite. It's my hope that this prosecution is a call for vigilance and caution. Combatting elder fraud and abuse is one of the Justice Department's top priorities and I applaud our investigative partners for their grit and dedication in tackling, at the systemic level, this widespread fraud."

"The thieving greed of fraudsters who target senior citizens knows no bounds," added FBI Minneapolis Special Agent in Charge Michael Paul in a statement. "Using a tactic like telemarketing magazine sales, these deceitful scam artists bilk hard earned money from their aging victims – leaving so many financially devastated in their retirement years and without recourse for recovery."

How it happened

The scheme earned $300 million over the course of two decades by deceptively selling the victims magazine subscriptions. Telemarketers "pressured" the scheme's victims into approving the renewal of existing subscriptions, according to federal prosecutors. But, "through a series of lies and misrepresentations" made by the scheme's participants, the victims were in fact allowing large or repeating payments be sent to the scheme's companies directly.

"Many of the defendants used a fraudulent 'renewal' script in which the telemarketers falsely claimed to be calling from the consumer-victim's existing magazine subscription company about an existing magazine subscription package," as stated in a DOJ press release. "The telemarketers often claimed - falsely - to be calling with an offer to reduce the monthly cost of an existing subscription. In reality, the company had no existing relationship with the magazines, and they were actually fraudulently signing the consumer-victims up for expensive and entirely new magazine subscriptions."

The telemarketing companies were accused of using, at times, "cancellation" scripts, according to the indictments. The cancellation scripts were specifically employed against victims who were known by the telemarketing companies to have previously fallen victim to a fraudulent magazine sales scam.

Coloradans involved

Federal prosecutors claimed Aragon owned and operated several companies in the scheme, including Magazine Direct LLC, Marketing Unlimited, and Digital Subscriptions Inc. Those companies operated telemarketing call centers in Tempe, Ariz., and Little Rock, Ark.

Through his companies, prosecutors said Aragon was directly responsible for more than $19 million fraudulently obtained from thousands of victims.

According to the indictment, Aragon previously owned and operated Magazine Unlimited LLC, Magazine Connection LLC, and Magazine Club LLC, all Colorado-based companies that participated in the scheme. However, the Colorado Attorney General's Office filed a civil complaint against Aragon and several members of his extended family in 2011. This resulted in an agreement between the two barring Aragon from owning or operating any companies involved in magazine solicitations in the state of Colorado.

After making that agreement, Aragon opened the new companies in other states, per the indictment.

Aragon was also accused of avoiding payment on taxes from 2012 to 2019. The judge in his case ordered he repay the more than $1 million he owed to the IRS.

Additionally, Aragon was sentenced to five years in federal prison. He must report to a prison by Jan. 21, 2025, to begin serving his term.

The other Coloradans being prosecuted for their roles in the scheme are 48-year-old Amondo Miller of Littleton, 43-year-old Kiley Saindon of Lakewood, 72-year-old Lucille Patterson of Denver, 59-year-old James Anthony Sierra of Littleton, and 52-year-old Jennifer Girardin of Englewood.

Miller was the owner o Power Sales and Marketing, a call center in Denver. He pleaded not guilty to four charges (one count of Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud and three counts of wire fraud) and went to trial. A guilty verdict was announced in October 2024. Miller was sentenced to 96 months in federal prison and must report by Dec. 3. Miller previously spent time in the Colorado Department of Corrections stemming from a 1998 kidnapping case in Wheat Ridge.

Saindon was a telemarketer in the call center owned by Miller. She pleaded guilty to one count of Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud (out of three she'd been charged with) in December 2023. She was ordered to pay $15,000 in restitution and received no jail time. Saindon, too, has spent time in the state prison. Her 2014 and 2016 cases were felony delinquency of a minor convictions.

Patterson is Aragon's mother. She also owned several call centers. Patterson pleaded guilty in May to one count of Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud and was sentenced to nine months in prison.

Sierra was the manager at several magazine companies. He pleaded guilty in February 2021 to one count of Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud but has yet to be sentenced. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Dec. 17. Sierra previously agreed to pay $100K restitution as part of his plea agreement with federal prosecutors.

Girardin was owner and operator of a Missouri-based company involved in fraudulent magazine sales. She is charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud. An update on her case is not available.