MINNEAPOLIS — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - Minnesota), published as received.

MINNEAPOLIS – A Florida woman has pleaded guilty to her role in a $300 million nationwide telemarketing fraud scheme that targeted elderly and vulnerable victims, announced U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger.

According to her guilty plea and documents filed with the court, from 2001 through 2020, Rhonda Jean Moulder, 62, of Cape Coral, Florida, knowingly conspired with others to devise a telemarketing scheme that victimized numerous individuals across the United States, many of whom are elderly and vulnerable. Rhonda Moulder worked as a manager for Florida-based companies involved in fraudulent magazine sales, including Gulf Coast Readers Inc., ARCO Media Inc., KMK Magazines Inc., and Leisure Time Resources Inc., collectively the “companies.” Her role as a manager was to manage telemarketing call centers and oversee the fraud on a day-to-day basis as well as respond to BBB complaints from victims.

According to her guilty plea and documents filed with the court, Rhonda Moulder operated under the direction of her co-defendant and brother, Anthony Eugene Moulder, 61, of Fort Myers, Florida, who had ultimate control over the companies. The companies operated multiple telemarketing call centers in Cape Coral, Florida. At the direction of Anthony Moulder, Rhonda Moulder, and other co-conspirators, call center employees made calls to elderly and vulnerable victim-consumers using deceptive sales scripts designed to induce them—through a series of lies and misrepresentations—into making large or repeat payments to the companies. In total, Rhonda Moulder and the companies she managed defrauded thousands of victims out of more than $86 million.

Moulder pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court before Judge John R. Tunheim to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled at a later time.  

This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the United States Postal Inspection Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Additional assistance was provided by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) and the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph H. Thompson, Harry M. Jacobs, and Matthew S. Ebert are prosecuting the case.