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45 °F Forecast | Road Cams Wednesday, March 23, 2005 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Health Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley SHOP OUR VALLEY AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Classified Place an ad TOP JOBS EXTRA Ashland News NIE Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Moving here? eSouthernOregon CUSTOMER SERVICE FAQ's Advertise with us Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend March 19, 2005 Con-man sentence: 1½ years, restitution Former Medford spa salesman Todd Surgeon will serve his Oregon time concurrently with a sentence in Nevada By SARAH LEMON Mail Tribune Convicted spa salesman Todd Surgeon will serve no time in Oregon’s prisons but must repay more than $265,000 to dozens of Rogue Valley residents. Surgeon was sentenced Friday in Jackson County Circuit Court to a year and six months in prison. However, Circuit Court Judge Bill Purdy allowed Surgeon, 34, to serve that sentence at the same time as a prison term in Nevada, angering at least one of Surgeon’s victims. "Unless he finds a new job, he’s going to con people when he gets out of prison," said Grants Pass resident Ren� Par�, a former employee of Surgeon’s bogus company. "We will never see any of our money," said Par�, adding that he invested about $60,000 in Surgeon’s spa scheme without seeing a dime of return. Another investor’s financial ruin drove him to commit suicide this year, Par� said. Surgeon’s restitution in the case totaled $266,935 to be paid to 32 victims, including the Mail Tribune, which sought $4,300 from Surgeon for unpaid advertising services. Advertisement Surgeon pleaded no contest in January to a charge of racketeering, which ranks among Oregon’s most serious felonies. Local prosecutors negotiated the sentence more than three years ago, preferring to use Nevada’s prison resources instead of Oregon’s, said Karen Loomis, deputy district attorney for Jackson County. Known as "Mr. Americana," Surgeon first made headlines in 1999 when he announced plans to raise $20 million for charities in the Rogue Valley by opening a string of 777 leisure- products showrooms around the country. Instead, Surgeon took money for spas he never delivered and sold fraudulent securities in his company, Team Americana Inc. After a nine-month police investigation, a grand jury in 2000 indicted Surgeon on a charge of racketeering — a pattern of crime associated with a single enterprise. But he was released from the Jackson County Jail on his own recognizance before trial and moved to Las Vegas, only to be arrested there on similar theft charges. He now is serving a three- to 10-year Nevada prison sentence. More penalties await Surgeon in Placer County, Calif., where he was convicted in 2000 of embezzlement connected to the spa scam. Surgeon was jailed in Nevada before a Placer County judge could impose his sentence. Theft charges also are pending against Surgeon in Riverside County, Calif. Surgeon wouldn’t have been free to con Nevada residents if Jackson County officials had been willing to keep him in jail from the beginning, Par� said. Ripping people off is just all in a day’s work for Surgeon, he added. "He’s one of the best," Par� said. "Todd Surgeon acts and portrays himself as an honest and caring business man." Yet Surgeon’s cavalier attitude toward victims’ financial devastation annoyed Purdy, who told Surgeon Friday that he was considering imposing a harsher sentence. Surgeon said his shock at hearing of a former business partner’s suicide prompted him to blame the man’s drug addiction. Surgeon told Purdy he wouldn’t be eligible for parole in Nevada until 2011, but that he hoped to make full restitution. Loomis said Surgeon’s ability to pay back every victim was doubtful because he owes so many people so much money. "I wouldn’t hold my breath if I was a victim, that’s for sure," she said. Reach reporter Sarah Lemon at 776-4487, or e-mail [email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback Student Loan Consolidation Conference Calls - $50/Month Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker, Trunk, Footlockers home equity loans helzberg Slippers Student Loans afsa teleconferencing Memory Foam Mattress w2 forms Tatoo Advertisement s