January 20, 2015
Handout/for PhillyVoice
Former sportscaster Don Tollefson is defending himself in court against fraud charges.
Tollefson, 62, allegedly sold more than $300,000 in fake sports-themed trips, saying the money would go toward charities, NBC Philadelphia reported. After pleading guilty in September, he withdrew the plea in December and decided upon representing himself.
In his own testimony, Tollefson said he had no ill intent and he's just a bad businessman.
Matt Weintraub, Bucks County's chief of prosecution, said Tollefson's actions represented a "pyramid" and "Ponzi scheme" for his personal, financial gain, the Doylestown Intelligencer reported.
Not only didn't they get their trips, the charities got nothing," the prosecutor argued. "In some cases, charities lost money as a result of the defendant's thievery."
Tollefsen, however, maintained in his closing argument that he never intended to defraud his customers:
"I, Don Tollefson, caused what happened to happen," he said. "As I look at the timeline of what happened ... it is that of a person who had every intention to deliver."
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