Stephen Baldwin and the mysterious case of the Loco Joe swindlers
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- December
- 27
It’s unlikely that anyone remembers the Loco Joe cappucino soft drink, much less that Stephen Baldwin was one of its pitchmen. Except, that is, the good ol’ New York Post. The paper broke news on the 23rd that the owner of Charity Beverage USA (which was supposed to use profits from drink sales to fund breast-cancer research and “other charities”) was actually skimming more than $1 million off the top. The perp in question is Bill Richards, who was charged with theft by deception in NJ and sentenced to five years probation.
While Baldwin, who lives in Upper Grandview and was only actively promoting the drink back in 2004, doesn’t appear to be connected to any of the wrongdoing, there is one strange loose end in the case. Richards is still apparently trying to shake down investors. On Distributorship.com—”The place to find the best business opportunities, best franchise opportunities, wholesale beverages and available beverage distributors on the internet”—you can still inquire about being a Loco Joe vendor. What’s more, Baldwin is still an (unwitting?) shill for the company, with the following testimonial proudly featured on the site:
Dear Friend,You do not have to look very far to see that coffee is big…we here at Charity Beverage USA are currently preparing to go nation wide, with a great new tasting drink called loco Joe iced cappuccino, using the new innovative 8.25 oz ready to drink Tetra Prisma packaging.
We hope that you will join us in the exciting chance, to take hold and control a part of the huge ready to drink coffee market. Not only is this a great opportunity for your own success, but its also a great chance to make a difference in lives of so many others.
Stephen Baldwin
Media Promotions
While I can’t claim to have ever tasted the “innovative” 8.25 oz drink myself, and thus cannot endorse it or its distributorship opportunities, I do have to hand it to Richards. For a business named Loco Joe, nice choice of spokesperson!
This entry was posted
on Thursday, December 27th, 2007 at 10:49 am by Ted Mann.
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Thank you for posting this story, maybe someone from a news organization will call Bill Richards and Stephen Baldwin to cover the truth.
This story is an amazing story about Farmland Dairies/Parmalat USA Executives causing lifecall.org (Kathy Difiore) to loose 300k, shelters for homeless woman and children right around Christmas in 2003.
When Bill Richards stood up for Kathy, he was suddenly kicked out from his office at Farmland Dairies/Parmalat USA located in house at 520 Main Ave Wallington New Jersey.
Bill was arrested in 2003, but a 99 count indictment was handed over 3 years after his arrest (strange right?) they http://bcpo.net let Bill continue to do business for 3 years. Then all original 99 charges were suddenly dropped.
This guy, his wife and brother were facing 1000 years to life (Good name for a movie Stephen).
They charged his wife and brother with the same 99 counts. Bill was then extorted into a plea bargain agreement for only 1 count of miss allocation of funds, for 1 customer in 1999 under 25k, not bad for an eighth grade drop out, homeless drug addict who was actually eating out of a garbage can before he obtained sobriety.
Bill agreed (not ordered) to make restitution for 1.4 million that was lost in the business itself (Bill did not scam or steal anything ask Jane Harrison who did the books)). Bill knows God's hand is in his work, he always promised everyone he would never quit.
Loco Joe is a winner, but the Dairy just wanted him shut down because this guy can sell the truth, like no other I have seen. He has a great company vision and plan with a fantastic product and Baldwin knows it.
They Dairy caused many of Bill's customers to turn on him and that just isn’t right, these individuals wanted what Bill has, which they will never obtain.
It’s called BALLS
Regards,
Tony