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Money refunded on bogus device New Jersey man with `free electricity' gizmos in Oregon to repay customers By CHRIS BRISTOL A New Jersey businessman who markets the benefits of a dubious-sounding "free electricity" device has agreed to return all the money he took from investors in Oregon. Dennis Lee promised refunds as part of an agreement filed Monday in Marion County Circuit Court, which also prohibits him from selling uncertified electrical products anywhere in the state, Attorney General Hardy Myers said in a statement. Lee, of Newfoundland, N.J., promoted the product over the Internet and through dealers in Ashland and Agness, selling vouchers for $275 that he called "certificates of beneficial interest," Myers said. "Not only did this energy-generating device sound suspiciously like a perpetual motion machine," Myers said, "but the investment certificates were illegal securities." Also named in the agreement were Lee's companies, International Tesla Electric Company and United Community Services of America Inc. A tesla is a unit of magnetic induction named for physicist/inventor Nikola Tesla. Lee could not back up grandiose claims that his device generates free household electricity forever based on principles of the "Fourth Law of Motion" and the technology of "counter-rotation with over-unity motors," said Jan Margosian, a spokeswoman for Myers. She said Lee also claimed that the device -- which was not certified by state electrical inspectors -- does not burn fuel or cause pollution. "When you ask him to substantiate the benefits of this device, how it works and what it does, he can't do it," Margosian said. ``He can't cite any competent or reliable evidence." Lee apparently has only one prototype of the device, which he demonstrated at seminars in Portland and Eugene, Margosian said. State investigators believe Lee also probably conducted seminars in Southern Oregon. The seminars were packed, Margosian said. Interest may have been high because of Y2K, but pending deregulation of utilities also may have played a role, she added. "With deregulation, we feel we're going to see more and more of this type of stuff," she said. "People need to be very cautious." To date, Lee has refunded money to a dozen or so investors, Margosian said. She was unsure how many others there might be, or who the local dealers were. Violations of the agreement could result in civil penalties of $25,000 per violation and up to six months in jail for contempt of court, Margosian said. (For more information, call the Attorney General's toll-free consumer hotline at 1 (877) 877-9392, or write Financial Fraud/Consumer Protection, 1162 Court St. N.E., Salem, OR 97310.) Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA