FEDERAL GRAND JURY INDICTS PAIR ON INTERNET AUCTION FRAUD SCHEME

Shreveport, Louisiana . . . United States Attorney Bill Flanagan announced today that a federal grand jury in Shreveport has returned a 32 count indictment charging GREGORY L. CAMPBELL, age 50, and LUCILLE M. LISCOMB, age 35, both originally from Goodyear, Arizona, with using an internet auction site at auction.yahoo.com to defraud people bidding to purchase Beanie Babies or computer merchandise.

The indictment alleges that CAMPBELL and LISCOMB conspired to advertise Beanie Babies and computer merchandise to be sold at an auction over the internet. The defendants instructed any person who won the bid to mail payments for their merchandise to one of six United States Post Office boxes which they had opened in various small towns in northeast Louisiana, namely, Columbia, Fort Necessity, Baskin, Archibald, Mangham, and Sterlington.

The indictment alleges that the defendants received over $20,000 in payments from at least 31 customers from throughout the United States and overseas. The defendants told the victims they would send the merchandise they had purchased, a representation they knew to be false. The defendants never delivered the merchandise as promised.

CAMPBELL and LISCOMB each face a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment and a fine of $250,000, or both, on each count.

CAMPBELL and LISCOMB have been held without bond since their arrest on August 31, 2000. They are both set for arraignment in Monroe, Louisiana on October 2, 2000 at 1:30 p.m.

U.S. Attorney Flanagan said: "Internet fraud is a growing problem. This indictment demonstrates that federal and state law enforcement agencies are closely scrutinizing the fraudulent use of this new technology. Any victim of this scheme should contact the Monroe office of the FBI at 318-387-0773."

This investigation is being jointly conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, United States Postal Inspection Service, Louisiana State Police and the Sterlington, Louisiana Police Department.

An indictment is merely an accusation and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

For further information, please contact United States Attorney Bill Flanagan or Assistant United States Attorney Robert W. Gillespie, Jr. at 318-676-3600.