Cuomo’s office spearheads crackdown on business tactics
Felon working as debt collector had loaded gun when arrested
It didn’t take long for the state attorney general’s investigators to realize they weren’t dealing with your average businessman when they entered his Harvard Place residence early Tuesday.
They said they found Tobias Boyland, 43, inside, with a loaded .38-caliber handgun. And in four other locations identified as connected with debt collection, investigators found more — seven additional handguns, an AK-47 assault rifle with a clip of ammunition nearby and $35,000 in cash, a law enforcement source said.
The arrest and confiscations put a dent in what Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo described as a debt-collection operation with serious violations.
“This case is one of the more egregious cases we have found,” Cuomo told reporters Tuesday afternoon in his downtown office. “Debt-collection companies have to operate legally because consumers also have rights.”
Boyland, 43, was arrested on gun charges after attorney general’s investigators and Erie County sheriff’s deputies arrived with a search warrant. Cuomo said his office is now considering further charges.
Cuomo played audiotapes obtained by his undercover investigators that included Boyland’s employees posing as police officers, and the tapes provided a chilling glimpse into the seamy underside of a business gaining more of the attorney general’s attention.
One sample:
“Hello, this is Investigator Brook Carlson from the Warrant Division. This is the last time I am going to attempt to contact you. We have left this message numerous times, and it seems that you are disregarding all means of contacting us back. So, therefore, you are going to be picked up at Hillcrest Hospital. You’ll come in, then the warrant is actually going to be formalized in McLennan County. Make sure you have somewhere for your kids to go, lock up your house, get some clean clothes because you’re not coming home anytime soon.”
Cuomo said some victims of Boyland’s operation were so intimidated that they paid him substantial amounts of money.
“There was no DA warrant; there was no judge warrant,” Cuomo said. “Some people get so scared they pay the bill just to get rid of the tactics.”
Boyland’s tactics have been portrayed on NBC-TV’s “Dateline” program, Cuomo said, and a “Dateline” crew was present at his Main Place Tower offices to film the latest episode in Boyland’s career.
A law enforcement source said Boyland previously served a sentence of one to three years for a 1992 conviction for possession of cocaine and five to 15 years for a 1993 conviction for attempted armed robbery. He was released in 2004.
Two of Boyland’s employees also have criminal records, the source added: Dorian Wills served two to six years for the same attempted armed robbery conviction as Boyland, and Dellian Sharp has had four misdemeanor convictions.
They were among about 30 employees working for companies operating under nine names in four local offices, according to Mitra Hormozi, special deputy chief of staff to the attorney general.
“These are some of the worst tactics we’ve seen,” she said.
Cuomo noted that his office has carried on a long investigation of the debt-collection industry, which has a heavy concentration in the Buffalo area. He added that the probe resulted from “hundreds” of complaints filed with his office.
He said the callers routinely read from a script that demanded payment for nonexistent debt, for expired debts, or substantially inflated amounts on actual debt. Because so many of those contacted believed they were being threatened by actual police officers, he said, many complied.
“It’s illegal to impersonate a police officer,” he said. “They must [collect debts] by legal means.”
Some of the names under which Boyland’s companies operated included Central Resource Management, Final Claims Asset Locators, Final Control Asset Locators, Interchange Payment Solutions, Next Step Services, Portfolio Asset Assurance, Silverbay Services, and Teleport, according to Cuomo’s office.
On June 2, Cuomo’s office reached agreements with three local debt-collection companies to “substantially reform their business practices” and pay $245,000 to the state.
The attorney general accused the firms — Creditors Interchange Receivable Management LLC, Capital Management Services LP, and Tri-Financial LLC — of failing to “adequately supervise employees who engaged in deceptive and fraudulent methods.”
The firms, which operate nationwide, agreed to change the way they operate to comply with the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the state Debt Collection Procedures Act.
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