Arizona court sentences man to prison for unlawful telephone solicitation

PHOENIX — A man will spend the next year and a half behind bars after an Arizona court sentenced him for unlawful telephone solicitation.

Donald Carl Trent Jr. was sentenced by a Maricopa County Superior Court judge to 1.5 years in prison and three years of supervised probation following release from prison after pleading guilty to three counts of unlawful telephone solicitation, each of which are class 5 felonies, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s Office announced Tuesday.

Trent used unlawful telephone solicitations to sell business opportunity scams. He also solicited “recovery services” to help victims recover money from scams, in some instances targeting the same victims of the business opportunity scam.

The solicitation occurred between December 2014 and October 2015 from a location within Maricopa County on 12 separate occasions without first registering with the Arizona Secretary of State.

Arizona law requires certain telephone sellers to register with the Arizona Secretary of State prior to soliciting from a location within Arizona or to any consumer located in the state.

Two associates of Trent, Chad Everett Allen and Joshua Bouchard, were also indicted on multiple counts of unlawful telephone solicitation. The cases against the other two men are ongoing.

The man will also pay nearly $400,000 to individual consumers, just over $7,300 to the Arizona Department of Revenue and $36,600 to the Attorney General’s Office Anti-Racketeering Revolving Fund as part of the sentencing agreement.

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