The Timeshare Beat Home | Today's Headlines | Back to Previous Page

Investigation Leads To Arrests In Alleged Time-Share Scheme

Press Release: Hillsborough County Consumer Protection Agency
April 2, 2004
TAMPA, FL -- A lengthy investigation by Hillsborough County’s Consumer Protection Agency led to the arrests today of two men in an alleged time-share rental scheme that left victims across the country.

Michael W. Craun, 34, of Tampa, and Felix A. Petersen, 40, of Pittsburg, Kan., were arrested on charges of aggravated white collar crime filed by the Florida Attorney General’s Office. Investigators with the Consumer Protection Agency and the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office arrested Craun at his apartment at 2606 Belle Chase Circle. Petersen was arrested by investigators from the police department in Pittsburg, where the suspect had recently moved.

“Aggravated white collar crime” is a first-degree felony that can carry a prison sentence of up to 30 years. Altogether, the Consumer Protection Agency knows of an estimated 150 victims who lost a total of more than $125,000 in the alleged scam.

The agency launched their investigation in July 2003, after receiving a written complaint from a Colorado resident. The woman reported she had received an unsolicited call from Worldwide Rentals, aka Gold Crown Advertising, with an offer to provide a renter for a one-week timeshare unit she owned. The victim paid $595 to the company, which guaranteed the timeshare would be rented for $1,295. Nothing happened, and the victim was unable to get a response from Worldwide/Gold Crown.

Further investigation revealed that Petersen and Craun owned Worldwide Rentals and Gold Crown Advertising, an unlicensed telemarketing business operated from several locations in Hillsborough County. Representatives from the company called owners of timeshare properties across the country, offering a promise of guaranteed renters in exchange for a fee.

Personal checks for the fees were deposited into bank accounts opened and controlled by Petersen and Craun. Victims were never provided any viable rentals nor were they issued refunds, according to the Consumer Protection Agency. In some instances, victims were provided names by the defendants with claims that they would rent their timeshare units. The prospective renters were contacted and in every case denied having any interest or knowledge about renting the victims’ timeshare units, investigators said.

Petersen left Hillsborough County and moved to Kansas, where the operation continued. Victims were requested to Airborne Express their $595 to the Gold Crown “offices,” supposedly located at an address on Hillsborough Avenue. The address in reality is a pickup point at a UPS/Mailboxes Etc., which investigators said Craun visited regularly.

Individuals lost as much as $6,000, depending on the number of timeshare weeks they owned at their property, investigators said.

“If you are running an illegal telemarketing operation in Hillsborough County and taking money from innocent victims, you will be aggressively pursued and prosecuted,” said Consumer Protection Agency Administrator James L. Sudberry.

---------------------------------------

For more information contact:
Mike Foerster, Director
Communications Department
Telephone: (813) 272-5314
Cellular Phone: (813) 335-7213