Two men who persuaded hundreds of elderly victims to donate thousands of dollars to nonexistent charities have pleaded guilty to violating the state’s organized-crime act and committing charities fraud.
Under their plea agreements, each could face up to 16 years in prison when sentenced in August.
The pair, Danny Kleiman, 45, and David Dale Werkmeister, 44, used more than 180 fake charity names when soliciting donations.
During their scam, about 6,500 Coloradans from six metro-area counties were called and asked to donate money.
More than 1,600 contributions exceeding $95,000 were made by 626 victims, with more than three-fourths of the money from elderly donors.
The pair perpetrated the ruse from November 2005 until April 2007.
The men originally were charged with racketeering (the organized-crime statute), theft from at-risk adults, forgery, perjury and felony violations of the Colorado Charitable Solicitations Act.
The investigation was conducted by the Broomfield Police Department, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and the Colorado Attorney General’s Office.
The men will be sentenced Aug. 27 in Broomfield County District Court.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
