Check below for a look at Werkmeister and more details about the case from the Colorado Attorney General's Office.
Attorney General announces 16-year sentences for two men at the center of charitable fraud operationDENVER -- Colorado Attorney General John Suthers announced today that a Broomfield County District Court judge has sentenced Danny Troy Kleiman (DOB: 2/17/1964) and David Dale Werkmeister (DOB: 9/14/1964) each to 16 years in prison in connection with a scheme to solicit thousands of dollars in charitable donations for nonexistent charities. Both men also were ordered to pay $95,680.03 in restitution to their victims.
According to the duo's indictment, between November 2005 and April 2007, Kleiman and Werkmeister fraudulently registered charity trade names and then systematically began to solicit donations. During their donation-campaign, roughly 6,500 Coloradans from six metro-area counties were contacted by phone and asked to donate money.
The pair obtained more than 1,600 contributions totaling more than $95,000 from 626 victims, according to the indictment. More than three quarters of the money allegedly came from elderly Coloradans. The indictment also states that Kleiman and Werkmeister used the names of more than 180 fake charities when they solicited money. Little or no money the pair raised was ever used for charitable purposes.
Kleinman and Werkmeister pleaded guilty in June to violating the Colorado Organized Crime Control Act and to committing charitable fraud, both felonies. Their 16-year sentences were the maximum allowable under their plea agreements.