PHOENIX – Attorney General Mark Brnovich announced today that Donald Carl Trent, Jr. was sentenced to 1.5 total years in prison by a Maricopa County Superior Court judge after pleading guilty to three counts of Unlawful Telephone Solicitation, each are Class 5 Felonies. Trent was sentenced to a term of 1.5 years each on Counts 1 and 3, with sentences ordered to run concurrently. Trent was also sentenced to 3 years of supervised probation following his release from prison. As part of the sentencing agreement, Trent must also pay over $400,000 in total restitution to victims.
The indictment accused Trent of using unlawful telephone solicitations to sell business opportunity scams and alleged “recovery services” to victims, in some instances even targeting the same victims of the business opportunity scam by offering recovery services to help victims recover money lost from previous scams.
Trent and two of his associates, Chad Everett Allen and Joshua Bouchard, were indicted on multiple counts of Unlawful Telephone Solicitation earlier this year. Arizona law requires certain telephone sellers, as defined by A.R.S. § 44-1271, to register with the Arizona Secretary of State prior to soliciting any consumer from a location within Arizona or any consumer located in Arizona, pursuant to A.R.S. § 44-1272.
The indictment alleges that between December 4, 2014 and October 29, 2015, the defendants solicited consumers from a location within Maricopa County on twelve separate occasions without first registering with the Arizona Secretary of State to engage in such conduct.
As part of the sentencing agreement, Trent must pay the following in restitution:
- $395,968.75 to individual consumers;
- $7,354 to the Arizona Department of Revenue; and
- $36,600 to the Attorney General’s Office Anti-Racketeering Revolving Fund.
The case against Trent’s co-defendants, Allen and Bouchard, is ongoing.
All remaining defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
The Phoenix Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation led the criminal investigation in this case with assistance from the Arizona Department of Revenue and the Arizona Attorney General’s Office.
Assistant Attorney General Carmine Mediate is prosecuting the case.
Copies of the indictments for Trent, Allen and Bouchard are available here.
A copy of Donald Trent, Jr.'s plea is available here.
Donald Trent, Jr.
Chad Allen
Joshua Bouchard
