Published Wednesday, March 12, 2003
interview sessions
Herald Business Editor
The state Attorney General's Office on Tuesday shut down what was described as a massive bait-and-switch operation in northwestern Pennsylvania to lure unsuspecting job-seekers into applying for manufacturing jobs which didn't exist.
More than 1,000 people searching for jobs jammed motels in East Lackawannock Township, Meadville and Erie in recent days in hopes of landing plant jobs, only to find the positions were door-to-door sales for vacuum cleaners and air filters, said Darrel Vandeveld, deputy attorney general in charge of the Erie Regional Office.
Local job-seekers were enticed by help-wanted ads which appeared over the last week in local newspapers, including The Herald. The ads touted starting positions paying $450 a week with American Air Line or American Air Lines, which was relocating its national manufacturing plant to the area and was hiring for 45 full-time positions. These companies have no relationship to national air carrier American Airlines, Vandeveld said.
"It was a ruse using the name American Air Line,'' Vandeveld said. "They misspelled the name deliberately and thinking incorrectly that it would protect them from liability.''
Depending on the newspapers' location, the ads said the company was moving to Sharon, Grove City or Greenville. Ads also said positions ranging from clerical to supervisory and management were available with "no layoffs'' and "secure future.'' The ads listed toll-free numbers; people who called them were told to report to a specific hotel at a specific time.
A call by The Herald to one of the numbers reached a woman who wouldn't identify herself. She said she knew nothing about the company and was hired only to tell people which motel to report to for job interviews and the time.
Vandeveld said his office kicked into gear after receiving two dozen complaints from people who said they had been lured to hotels under false pretenses.
"Some of them described it as a bait-and-switch, where they thought they were going to be applying for manufacturing jobs or jobs in the airline industry,'' Vandeveld said.
Job-seekers were told the hiring process would take three days. The first day they would fill out an application, the second day would be an orientation and finally, on the third day they would be told what jobs they would be offered, Vandeveld said.
Vendeveld said the manager of the Erie motel told investigators 1,000 job-seekers had shown up there.
Investigators confiscated nearly 100 applications on which people had given the company their names, addresses, birth dates and Social Security numbers, Vandeveld said. He added his office would be contacting those individuals.
He wasn't sure how many showed up Tuesday at Howard Johnson's in East Lackawannock Township, where the company was taking applications. Howard Johnson asked company representatives to leave after the motel was contacted by the Attorney General's Office, Vandeveld said.
"We'll be picking up applications forms at that location with an eye toward finding out who's responsible for this,'' he added.
Although Vandeveld said he had his "suspicions'' as to who was behind the operation, he declined to identify anyone, citing an ongoing investigation. The Herald was unable Tuesday to verify who placed the ads because they were paid in cash in advance.
He added his office had spoken to company representatives at the hotels.
"As far as we know, people at these locations were underlings and they claim to have no real knowledge of who is responsible,'' Vandeveld said.
A woman at the local Howard Johnson's Tuesday afternoon identified herself as Carla Smith and said she was the sole owner of the company and was from Cambridge Springs.
When pressed, she said she was the regional distributor for an air filtration system produced in Cleveland.
She said the ads were a misprint and that the company went under the name American Air Filtration. She also said there would probably be only one manufacturing job available locally but other positions would be available. Further, she said, at no point did she ask that "national anything'' be inserted into ads.
After being told The Herald planned to write a story about the operation, she declined to answer questions.
Vandeveld said he spoke to the woman by phone later in the day.
"She said she knew nothing,'' he said.
When told of how she represented herself to The Herald, Vandeveld responded, "It could be this Carla Smith is a dupe who was suckered into this herself.''
He rebuked her for saying the ads were misprints. "They appeared in three different publications in three different areas, which means that all three publications offered the same misprints to the public. It's ludicrous,'' he said.
The company went all out to attract as many people as possible he said.
"I don't think they would get as many people if they were honest about the jobs they would offer,'' Vandeveld said. "I assume they have to go to such lengths because they know they wouldn't get very many applicants if they were honest.''
In a number of cases, workers reported off from their jobs and drove from other counties to apply for the jobs, he added.
"The sad thing is, people with decent jobs may be looking for a way up -- to take time off from work and go down to apply'' Vandeveld said.
The state Attorney General's Office asks anyone who filled out a job application with the company to contact the office and file a complaint. The office can be reached at (800) 441-2555 or (814) 871-4371. Complaints also can be filed online with the office at: www.attorneygeneral.gov