State v. Ms. F (DMC No. 12153) – Felony Illegal Control of an Enterprise ($2,300,000 Misappropriated with Counterfeit Coupons), Felony Fraud Schemes, Felony Forgery and Felony Counterfeiting – Reduced to Counterfeit Marks Class 6 Open /Misdemeanor with Probation and Zero Days in Jail – Maricopa County Superior Court (Case No. CR2012-136421).

Ms. F had recently returned from Georgia and was a licensed chiropractor. When she returned to Arizona, she became an avid animal rescuer and she saved over 140 abandoned dogs and cats. She would feed the animals by buying discounted pet food with coupons that she found on a website known as savvyshoppers.com. Eventually, the owner asked her to work for their internet business.

Her job consisted of the following: after FedEx would deliver a box of coupons, Ms. F would take off the mailing labels on the box. She was then instructed to throw away all of the mailing labels. She would receive orders for customer coupons from the owner of the company, and then she would complete the orders by compiling the coupons. She was taught where to put the CIC labels, and how to put the coupons together in order to assure the coupons would be accepted at various stores. She would then package them for mailing and give the package to the U.S. Postal Carrier. It turned out that all of these coupons were counterfeit copies, which would result in a flood of these coupons being submitted to stores. When the manufacturers would receive a large number of coupons, they would tell the retailers not to honor them. Then, whatever loss was incurred would then shift to the retailer when the retailer did not prevail in a dispute with the manufacturer. All in all, there was over $2.3 million in losses due to this counterfeit coupon scam.

Ms. F was arrested in this high-profile case and charged with Felony Illegal Control of an Enterprise, Fraud Schemes, Forgery and Counterfeiting. We became involved in the case and entered into a Cooperation Agreement with the prosecutors. We also presented a significant mitigation package which included information regarding her prior good acts in the community, lack of prior bad acts, her good character and reputation, and her appropriate behavior during the pendency of the case. We then presented letters from family and friends that demonstrated Ms. F felt true remorse for what had occurred. It was also determined that she had a lack of any potential for future offenses. Ultimately, the prosecutor agreed to offer her a plea to Counterfeit Marks the Class 6 Open/Misdemeanor designation with Probation and Zero Days in Jail. She also successfully completed probation, and the case was designated a misdemeanor. Originally, she was facing mandatory prison time due to the severity of the charges and the amount of the loss being above $100,000.