Officials Raid Debt Collection Office, Arrest Two

United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner, in the Eastern District of California, announced Friday that local law enforcement officials, along with the Internal Revenue Service, had raided a California debt collector and arrested two people charged with mail fraud, money laundering, and wire fraud.

According to local news reports, the IRS and local law enforcement raided an office in Bakersfield, Calif. belonging to Maxwell, Turner & Associates. Authorities arrested two men, Paul Anthony Vasquez and Stefan Lemar Miller, who they claimed to be the leaders of the ARM company.

In two sweeping criminal charges, officials say Miller and Vasquez engaged in money laundering and wire fraud in connection with their debt collection operations. The IRS became involved because state and local officials believed the two were hiding assets to cover their activity. The arrests were the result of an ongoing investigation between the IRS, Bakersfield Police Department, and the Kern County District Attorney’s Office.

Attempts to contact Maxwell, Turner & Associates were unsuccessful, and the company’s Web site now redirects to an unrelated business.

The firm had recently issued several press releases to ARM industry press announcing, among other things, an entry into debt buying and the launch of a new Web site.