From: L' Ermit (lhermit@hotmail.com)
Date: Thu Feb 21 2002 - 23:23:50 MST
Faith based initiative vs. the Laws of Thermodynamics...
THE ELECTRIC CHRISTIAN RAPTURE TEST
Kate Silver, Las Vegas Weekly
Inventor and Christian evangelist Dennis Lee has gotten
thousands of people to buy $10,000 "dealerships" that sell
"free electricty machines." Scam artist, cult hero or savior?
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12459
=====
[Hermit]
The following letter was sent to the AG for Iowa on Jan 30 this year... I
think it says everything that needs to be said...
[quote]
I am a scientist and engineer [Hermit: Qualifications and business
affiliations deleted], resident [Hermit: Address Deleted], Iowa. I recently
received the following letter via email.
===
>From safe@freewidget.com Wed, 30 Jan 2002 16:35:43 -0800
[Hermit: Addressing Deleted]
From: "!!Free Electricity!!" <safe@freewidget.com>
To: "lhermit@hotmail.com" <lhermit@hotmail.com>
Subject: !!Revoluntionary NEW Technology...ABOUT to EXPLODE!!!!!
Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2002 19:27:41 -0500
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
THE OPPORTUNITY OF THE CENTURY!=20
AMAZING NEW TECHNOLOGY about to be released=2E 15 Years in
Development=2E=20=
NEVER PAY AN ELECTRICITY BILL AGAIN!=20
EARN RESIDUAL COMMISSIONS from your Referrals FOR LIFE!=20
Make your reservation to REAP THE BENEFITS of this once-in-a-lifetime oppo=
rtunity FOR FREE!!=20
ACT NOW -- Limited Time Offer=2E=20
Go To http://www=2Efreewidget=2Ecom and Get All the Facts=2E=20
Sincerely=20
Tim Rollins=20
safe@freewidget=2Ecom
Concord, North Carolina=20
To Be Removed reply to safe@freewidget=2Ecom
======
The claims made appeared prima facia improbable, so I visited the referenced
site [url]http://www.freewidget.com[/url] (Refer Note 1, Infra). As this
offering appeared even more improbable and also appeared to involve a
pyramid scheme, I investigated further, using the Google search engine
[url]http://www.google.com[/url] with the search terms "Sundance
Hummingbird", both visible on the freewidget.com webpage. Google returned,
amongst many other references, the following URLs:
[url]http://www.nuscam.com/dennis_lee.htm[/url]
[url]http://www.phact.org/e/dennis.html[/url]
At the first site I discovered the following information, with additional
details on the second referenced site:
=====
NEWS & COMMUNICATIONS
Promoter of "free electricity" scheme arrested in Louisville, Kentucky
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Jennifer Dean (502) 696-5637
FRANKFORT, KY. (October 9, 2001) – Attorney General Ben Chandler announced
today the arrest of Dennis Lee, an individual doing business under the name
of "United Community Services of America" and promoting a "free electricity"
scheme in a seminar held in Louisville, Kentucky, for violating state
consumer protection laws. Mr. Lee also does business as "Better World
Technologies" and "International Tesla Electric Company."
Mr. Lee has been staging sales demonstrations across the United States in an
effort to sell business opportunities. Consumers were offered an opportunity
to purchase a dealership for selling machines that could generate
electricity for personal household use and resale to the public. Several
experts that have reviewed Mr. Lee’s claims have dismissed them as
unsupported by sound science.
Kentucky law prohibits the sale of business opportunities without
registering with the Attorney General's Office and posting a $75,000 bond.
According to Attorney General Chandler, "My office contacted Mr. Lee prior
to his arrival in Kentucky and advised him of the requirements of Kentucky
laws governing the offering of business opportunities and he failed to
comply."
The arrest citation charges Dennis Lee with one count of failing to register
a business opportunity, one count of failing to include the business
opportunity registration number in advertisements, and one count of making
earnings claims, all in violation of the Business Opportunity Act. Each
violation is a Class C felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison. A full
cash bond of $50,000.00 was imposed upon Lee as a condition of any release
from jail. A pre-trial hearing has been scheduled for October 18, 2001.
The states of Vermont, Maine, Washington, Oregon, New Mexico, and Alaska
have also filed legal actions against Lee to prevent the promotion of this
"free electricity" scheme.
======
I confirmed the above information at the official site of the Kentucky
Attorney General, Ben Chandler. Refer
[url]http://www.law.state.ky.us/news/2001rel/026%5F9oct01.htm.[/url]
I would suggest that this scheme is attempting to take advantage of the
gullible, and that given the large numbers of people apparently promoting
this material (as evidenced at Google), including in Iowa (as evinced by my
receipt of this letter and the existence of at least one purported Iowa
based "dealer" of this scheme. Refer
[url]http://www.electricity4free.com/[/url] and follow the link "Dealership
Opportunities" to find: "Dave 515-993-4619." See also Note 2, infra.), that
the State of Iowa should investigate the degree to which its consumers are
affected by this and related offerings, and act to warn consumers against
this particular class of scheme.
I consider this particularly worthy of attention as this apparent scam goes
to the heart of the "distributed power generation" and "cogeneration"
fields, both of which appear likely to be highly significant in the
short-to-medium term, both of which are encouraged by the State of Iowa, and
the high probability that the promotion of schemes such as that referenced
here, will prejudice public opinion against well-founded efforts to
encourage the adoption of such generation technology.
Yours Sincerely
[Hermit:Address Block Deleted]
[Note 1] Investigation of freewidget.com at the relevant domain registrar
[url]http://www.whois.corenic.net/cgi-bin/whois.cgi?query=freewidget.com&firsttime=no&submit.x=17&submit.y=12
yielded the following information:
[Hermit: Removed to save bandwidth]
[Note 2] Investigation of electricity4free.com at the relevant domain
registrar [url]http://www.opensrs.org/cgi-bin/whois.cgi[/url] yielded the
following information:
[Hermit: Removed to save bandwidth]
PS All URLs accessed 2002-01-30
[/quote]
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