Two Forsyth Copier salesmen arrested on theft charges
Officials: Copiers never delivered to paying customers
By Stephen Gurr
Staff Writer
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Hawkins
Hesenius
A pair of shady Forsyth County copier salesmen conned companies across the country out of nearly half a million dollars before their arrests last week on theft charges, authorities said.
Ted L. Hawkins, 37, owner of Atlanta Wholesale Copiers, and his vice president, 31-year-old Justin Hesenius, are accused of failing to deliver on large orders for copiers and industrial printing presses. They were arrested Dec. 20 after a raid on their warehouse at 3020 Trotter's Parkway by investigators with the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office and U.S. Secret Service.
Financial Crimes Invest-igator Jeff Roe said the two men probably conned more than a dozen people into sending money for merchandise that never arrived, with losses expected to top $1 million before the investigation is complete.
"Some victims lost $5,000, others lost upward of $280,000," Roe said.
An Internet forum for professionals in the copier industry was filled with complaints about Hawkins and his company, which has been incorporated in at least three names in the past year.
"He took my money then lied for months while I waited for the equipment to arrive," wrote one anonymous poster on the forum, http://www.thecopiernetwork.com. "Ultimately I never saw a single copier out of the 100-plus machines I ordered, but luckily I got my money back after he himself became confused by his own trickery and blew his cover."
Others were not so fortunate, authorities said.
A Brooklyn, N.Y., company ordered 80 Minolta and Konica-brand copy machines from Hawkins for shipment to Pakistan and Singapore, but instead ended up with boxes containing what Roe termed "junk."
Another company paid $193,000 for three Hiedelberg Quickmaster printing presses so large they require two tractor-trailers to ship them. Investigators determined Hawkins never had the presses to sell.
Arrest warrants charge the two men with taking $474,000 from victims in Georgia, California and Illinois, but "there are more victims out there, I know that," Roe said.
"I can easily see this pushing the million dollar mark," Roe said.
The victims were duped by what appeared to be a legitimate dealer of copiers and printing products, Roe said.
"To the average person, if you went in and looked at his showroom, you would say, 'OK, he's got the inventory, he's got the product -- but it's just not so," Roe said.
The alleged interstate transactions drew the attention of the Secret Service and other federal law enforcement officials.
While authorities brought state charges against the men, the case may end up being prosecuted in federal court, authorities say.
Both men remain in the Forsyth County jail with bond set at $480,000.
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