3 more sentenced in timeshare scam operated from N.J.

Three former employees associated with a timeshare business were sentenced for their roles in a multimillion-dollar scam in which clients were duped into paying for phony consulting services, federal authorities said Monday.

Two New Jersey men and a woman from South Carolina who posed as employees or customers of Vacation Ownership Group, which also used the name VO Group L.L.C., with offices in Mays Landing and Egg Harbor Township, N.J., were the latest three people to face sentencing.

More than 10 people in New Jersey were arrested in 2012 when federal authorities announced the indictments.

The three people most recently sentenced appeared before U.S. District Judge Noel L. Hillman in Camden on Friday.

Jeffrey Sawyer, 53, of Mullica Hill, was sentenced to a year in prison and three years of supervised release. Sawyer also used the name Alex Jordan. Vincent Giordano, 31, of Atlantic County, was sentenced to four months in prison, four months of home confinement, 200 hours of community service, and three years of supervised release.

Aimee Allen, 30, of Myrtle Beach, S.C., was sentenced to three years of probation, with eight months of home confinement, 50 hours of community service, and was ordered to pay restitution of $197,440.

All three defendants had pleaded guilty before Hillman to one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.

According to federal authorities, the trio - using the company name - pretended to offer services to timeshare owners who wanted to cancel, purchase, or upgrade services.

Sawyer pretended to be a satisfied customer to persuade others to send money to the company, causing more than $70,000 in losses to customers, according to court records.

Allen and Giordano called customers pretending to work for a bank that could pay off or cancel timeshares, or also posed as satisfied customers, causing more than $200,000 in losses to customers.

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