ORLANDO, Fla. — Agents stormed a timeshare telemarketing office on Magnolia Avenue (see map) and started arresting people Thursday afternoon. They said there are more than 1,000 victims.
Orlando Police named Eric Isaksen as the ring leader of a nationwide telemarketing scam.
The company operated under the unlicensed names of "Resort Services Group," "Resort Timeshare Inc.," and "Resort Sales Group."
WFTV confronted 34-year-old Isaksen Thursday night but he didn't have anything to say.
Investigators say Isaksen along with Kurt Neyworth, 32, Catherine Keller, 34, and Andrew Nance, 28, employed more than 24 people to illegally resell timeshares. Police have been investigating the telemarketing office since last month.
Three of the suspects bonded out of jail overnight. Nance, however, remains in jail and will face a judge Friday morning.
Scott Herman works across the street.
"It's pretty unsettling to look out there and see the crime scene unit out there in the middle of the afternoon executing a search warrant," he said.
Police told WFTV the workers would call victims and pretend to be able to resell timeshares that the owners couldn't use. The victims would then send money but get nothing in return. Detectives say the scam profited an average of $130,000 a week since July.
"We didn't know what was going on. We've seen a number of individuals coming and going, strange hours and we didn't know what was going on," Herman said.
Police said when they executed the search warrant Thursday, some of the workers tried destroying evidence and even hid files in the ceiling. In the end agents took 200 computers and thousands of files into evidence.
Police said the victims are scattered across the country and into Canada.
The investigation is still ongoing and more arrests and charges are expected, according to police.
Police said the suspects are facing charges of employment of unlicensed sales people, unlicensed solicit and purchase and telephone solicitation without a license.