SACRAMENTO - Wayne Arthur York II, 51, most recently of Albuquerque, New Mexico, pleaded guilty today to Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud, United States Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced. According to court documents, York, while working in boiler rooms located in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, would call timeshare owners to offer to arrange for the sale of Mexican timeshare vacation rentals. 

York would falsely claim that he and his coconspirators represented companies that had already secured or arranged for buyers who were ready to pay for the timeshares.  In truth, no buyers had actually been arranged.  Instead, York and others would convince the victims of the fraud to wire money from bank accounts in the United States and Canada to bank accounts in Mexico for alleged up-front payments including taxes, fees, and commissions to make the sale of the timeshare occur. 

The defendant and his coconspirators would assure victims that the non-existent buyers had already deposited money into trust accounts and that the sellers’ up-front fees would be fully reimbursed from those funds after the sale was complete.  During York’s involvement, he was aware of or could have reasonably foreseen approximately $458,628.11 in inbound international wires being processed into bank accounts that he was aware of as part of his role in the conspiracy.

This case was the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Assistant United States Attorney Matthew G. Morris is prosecuting the case.

York is the second defendant to plead guilty in this case:

Codefendant Marco Antonio Ramirez Zuno pleaded guilty in March 2017 and is scheduled for a status hearing regarding sentencing on December 10, 2019.

Codefendant Juan Carlos Montalbo is scheduled to go to trial on February 24, 2020.  The charges against Montalbo are only allegations; he is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

York is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge John A. Mendez on March 3, 2020.  York faces a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.  The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.