DENVER – Colorado Attorney General John Suthers today announced that the Statewide Grand Jury has indicted Danny Kleiman and David Werkmeister on multiple felony charges involving a scheme to solicit thousands of dollars in charitable donations for non-existent charities.
The charges include violations of the Colorado Organized Crime Control Act, thefts from at-risk adults, forgery, perjury and felony violations of the Colorado Charitable Solicitations Act.
The indictment alleges that between November 1, 2005 and April 19, 2007, Kleiman and Werkmeister fraudulently registered charity trade names with government offices, and then systematically began a solicitation campaign, where up to 6,500 individuals from six different metro counties were contacted by phone and asked to donate money.
According to the indictment, over 1,600 contributions, amounting to over $95,000 were obtained from 626 separate victims, with over three-fourths of the money coming from the elderly. The indictment alleges that Kleiman and Werkmeister used over 180 fake charity names when soliciting money from individuals, and little or no money was put to charitable purposes.
The investigation was conducted by the Broomfield Police Department in cooperation with the Colorado Attorney General’s Office and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. The case has been filed in Broomfield County District Court. Both defendants face a maximum possible sentence of 159 years in prison, and up to two million dollars in fines each if convicted on all counts.
Due to the pending criminal charges and confidentiality of grand jury proceedings, law enforcement investigators are not at liberty to discuss specifics of the investigation. It should be noted, any indictment is merely an accusation and defendants are presumed innocent until found guilty by a court