Warrants Issued for 4 in Mass State Police, Dare Program Scam
On Thursday, March 1, 2012 warrants were issued out of the Dudley District Court for the arrest of Jason Fontaine 06/06/77 of L/K/A 151 School Street, Webster, Mass, Cindy Carpenter 01/30/59 of L/K/A 6 May Street, Webster, Mass. Deborah Anderson 12/3/51 of 2294 Providence Rd., Northbridge, Mass for 151 counts each of larceny as well as one charge of conspiracy to commit a crime. The Dudley District Court also issued warrants for both Andersons for over forty additional counts of larceny as well as charges of utilizing an organizational name without authorization for profit.
Both Jason Fontaine and Cindy Carpenter were arraigned in Dudley District Court today on the new charges. Fontaine and Carpenter were originally charged back in November with over forty counts of larceny as well as additional charges of utilizing an organizational name without authorization for profit. Additional investigation since November revealed additional bank accounts used by the suspects.
In a fundraising solicitation scam, Jason Fontaine, Cindy Carpenter, Deborah Anderson and Christopher Anderson opened multiple accounts at two banks for business accounts in the name of M.S.P.A. These individuals then solicited funds from individuals by representing themselves as the Massachusetts State Police Association (MSPA) and the DARE Program. These individuals stated that they were soliciting funds specifically for local DARE programs as well as for tornado victims in the state.
During the investigation Sgt. Thomas Ralph applied for and received four search warrants which were executed on the Hometown Bank, the Sovereign Bank and 6 May Street, Webster. As a result of these search warrants evidence was obtained to indicate that over eleven thousand dollars was donated by individuals to this organization believing it to be a legitimate organization working on behalf of the Massachusetts State Police Association and the DARE Program. All of these funds were then utilized by Jason Fontaine and Christopher Carpenter for their own use and were never donated.
All individuals that donated by check and whose information was obtained from records recovered as a result of the search warrants were listed as victims in the complaint. According to the information obtained the victims are from a number of areas in Massachusetts including Ashland, Cherry Valley, Douglas, Dudley, Franklin, Leicester, Northborough, Medway, Needham, Norwood, Oxford, Rochdale, Shrewsbury, Southborough, Walpole, Westborough, Webster and Worcester.