Michigan Toy Soldier owner guilty of credit card fraud

Michigan Toy Soldier owner Rick Berry has plead guilty to illegally charging nearly $190,000 US to the credit card of director Peter Jackson. According to another news report Berry was also charged with a similar offence in 1993.


The Detroit News / The Detroit News
A plea deal agreed upon Sept. 13 by a Royal Oak man who has admitted to fraudulently billing the credit card of movie director Peter Jackson, who directed the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.

Richard Berry, who sells "accurate miniatures" of toy soldiers from throughout history, rang up nearly $190,000 in unauthorized charges on Jackson's American Express card in 2008 and 2009. Jackson had previously bought items from Berry, who operates Michigan Toy Soldier Company and the Old Northwest Trading Company.

Wow... I knew Jackson had started Wingnut Wings, but he must be a seriously prolific modeler to have been ordering enough kits from them to hide an extra 190K of charges. Crazy...

Jim

There was a local news segment on it.
http://www.clickondetroit.com/video/26615971/index.html
And a follow up prior to sentencing.
http://www.clickondetroit.com/video/26735776/index.html

The last time I checked Rick Berry got jail time... apparently he was hoping the judge would go easy on him because he had paid back half of the ammount charged on Jackson's credit card and was hoping for house arrest.

If the same thing happened in 1993 and now in 2008, how is it possible that Michigan Toy Soldiers still operates on-line via CC ordering? I don't think most of us would be cool with leaving CC details at that store anymore...

Mario

He got 10 months. You'd probably get a longer sentence for driving off and not paying for gasoline than he got for stealing almost $200,000.
http://royaloak.patch.com/articles/michigan-toy-soldier-owner-gets-jail-time-in-director-peter-jackson-credit-card-fraud

This is from the sentencing story that Sabot posted....that last line worries me...and hopefully just the way the reporter worded it.




So what? He is skimming a few bucks here and there from the other CC sales to pay back his debt. I don't know about you, but that is how I read it.

Unfortunately Michigan Toy Soldier as a whole and it's employees are going to be marred with the actions of one person.

As well they should Scott. The president represents the entire business. Having done this twice, he isn't looking like he has any intentions of stopping credit scams. I know I won't be ordering from any of his stores.

HERE,HERE ON THAT !!,as a victim of cc fraud i have no sympathy for any one who commits this offence and he SHOULD get the book thrown at him.
When considering this just remember who pays in the long run - YOU DO !!.The credit card companies are businesses who merely offset their losses by levying charges on all our accounts.

OH I agree, HE should pay the price for it, and considering that this is his 2nd convicted offense of the same nature, he got off lucky with only 10 months.

Like Sabot said, take off without paying your gas, or simple shoplifting and you will likely get a longer sentence.

Even as the president of the company, it sucks for the other workers of MTS, as they probably had no knowledge of what was going on, and because of this, they too will suffer because the company as a whole will be deemed un-trustworthy to deal with via credit card at least, in which will mean less sales for the company and most likely will lead to layoffs. Actions of one person, president or not, hurts everyone unfortunately.

I too have been the victim of CC Fraud, and pride myself on keeping CC transactions with my own business ship shape so customers can buy with confidence!!

If Mr. Berry was convicted as well in 1993, I wonder if this latest takes him 2/3's of the way to a three-strike permanent orange jumpsuit?

--Karl

I'm so glad information like this comes up....at least I know who to do business with .... almost right up their with tankrat!

Thanks Michael

As a Toy Soldier Collector I was always tempted too place an order but for some reason the website always seemed just a little bit funny to me (just luck on my part). So instead I ordered from Sierra Toys instead, as well as Military Miniatures Warehouse and I am glad that I did. Needless to say I am not in Mr Jackson's range but I still would rather deal with honest folks, especially over the net.

Ahoy All,

Just found this while browsing:

He is now on Ebay!

Do an advanced search with this item number: 330543035294

I wonder how he'll do with all that has happened?

Cheers,
Joe

Just a personal observation but when i have had trouble with things I have bought on ebay, ebay seems more interested in protecting their sellers than their buyers, so I would really really be careful before i dealt with someone I knew had done this sort of thing before.

Not so anymore. Ebay is more for the seller than the buyer now. The buyer is responsible for the safe delivery of the item to the buyer. Delivery confirmation is not good enough; insurance and return receipt are.

I learned this while selling a bunch of kits last month (free listings in Feb). Made about $300 selling figure sets and Bandai 1/48 scale kits. You can't even put verbage in the item description that says you're not responsible for items lost in the mail, that delivery confirmation or insurance is extra, etc.

Ironically, I have ordered from MTS just once, basically to try them out. I waited for nearly three weeks before someone called and said they could not complete my order as several items were on backorder (so much for real-time inventory). I asked them to send what they had and I would re-order the other items in the future. They politely offered to send them, at no additional cost to me, when available. So, I agreed. A full two weeks later I receive the order, minus the backordered stuff which they still charged me for, and I decided that would be the only time I would use MTS. It was at that point the CC fraud story broke. OH, and I am still waiting on my remaining supplies ......

There are too many reputable internet businesses that don't dick people around out there to deal with this type of service. I know I'll not order from them ever again ... especially in light of the legal issues.

Kirchoff

Here's some news that will probably come as no surprise, posted on pF:

link

Mario

The new owners joined MTS after the crimes by Mr. Berry. They were blindsided by the whole situation and have ventured out to try to resurrect the MTS name. In the era of hobby shops disappearing, they are quite brave to "start" a new company -- and even one with a sullied reputation.

I believe they might even change the name of the company itself.

I know them to be great people and wish them the best.

I live in the Flint MI area, I agree he got off pretty light, what all of you out there don't understand is that the Police and Courts on all levels are swamped with murders, drug and drug related crimes and crime in general now and for many years leading up to now. The prison levels are so high that many times only murderer's or drug dealer's get sent to prison and most everyone else is let off on some kind of release/rehabilitation program. My brother Joe was murdered March 7th by my nephew who suicided on March 9th when the police caught up with him, What the detective told us was basically what I wrote to this forum, Had he lived Thomas would have gone to jail but lessor crimes are plea bargained or reduced sentenced or both............

Michigan has changed a lot in the last decade.