State AG bars company that raised funds for Watertown, Jefferson County police unions

A fundraising company that once solicited charitable donations on behalf of the Watertown Police Benevolent Association and Jefferson County Deputy Sheriffs Association has been permanently barred from asking for donations within the state.

Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced Friday that Stage Door Music Productions Inc., Waterbury, Conn., and its owner, Robert J. Donato, 53, are barred for routinely lying to donors during what Mr. Schneiderman termed “high-pressure” telephone calls.

The attorney general’s office sued Stage Door and four other telemarketing firms in 2010, alleging that the companies used high-pressure tactics to solicit donations and violated state law by disguising their status as paid professional fundraisers, as well as by lying about the programs the donations would support. The lawsuit alleged Stage Door carried out fraudulent telephone solicitations for more than 30 public safety organizations within the state.

According to the attorney general’s “Pennies for Charities” report for 2009, the last year in which the company raised funds for the organizations, Stage Door raised $27,977 for the Jefferson County Deputy Sheriffs Association, with just 20 percent, or $5,595, going to the association. Similarly, the company raised $73,600 for the Watertown Police Benevolent Association, with just $15,000 going to the charity.

As part of the attorney general’s investigation into the company, an undercover investigator took a job at Stage Door’s call center in Albany, where he was “trained to carry out fraudulent practices and where he observed employees making false statements to the public during phone solicitations,” according to Mr. Schneiderman’s statement.

The investigation revealed that at times telemarketers failed to disclose their professional status, as required by law, to make it seem like donors were giving directly to the public safety organization; created the false impression that they were law enforcement officials, and falsely claimed to be uncompensated volunteers for the organizations, while 75 percent to 85 percent of all donations were kept by Stage Door and its telemarketers.

“This fraudulent scheme involved fundraisers manipulating sympathetic donors in order to raise money, not for the greater good, but instead for their personal financial benefit,” Mr. Schneiderman said.

As part of a settlement agreement reached with the company in state Supreme Court, Albany, Stage Door was ordered to pay the state $1.2 million and Mr. Donato was ordered to pay $40,000.