March 3 , 2008 -- Four more people have pleaded guilty to fraud in connection with a Kingston-based telemarketing scam that bilked aging Americans out of many thousands of dollars over the four years it was in operation, cheating some out of their life's savings.

David MacDonald, 31, his common-law spouse, Stacey Waudby, 25, Amanda Wyer, 22, and Darrell Ivan Henry Dorsey Weiss, 22, all entered pleas in Kingston's Ontario Court of Justice to a single count each of conspiring to commit fraud.

Because they are all considered bit players, Wyer received a conditional discharge and 18 months probation, MacDonald was given an absolute discharge, and sentencing was suspended for Waudby and Dorsey Weiss, who were also placed on probation for 18 months.

At the request of the Crown, Justice Judith Beaman imposed free-standing compensation orders, making Wyer liable for $2,606 cheated from a California man and Dorsey Weiss liable for $1,000 defrauded from a woman who lost more than $120,000 in total. Waudby's compensation order attaches liability for $9,600 that was cheated from two victims and MacDonald is held liable for $50. In order to collect, however, the victims would have to initiate civil proceedings in Ontario's Superior Court of Justice.

Beaman was told that investigators believe the key players in the telemarketing scam were 51-year-old Darrell Dorsey Sr., whose case is still before the court, and the late Terry Dorsey, identified by defence lawyer Peter Kemp as a son of Dorsey Sr. and by assistant Crown attorney Priscilla Christie as his nephew.

Christie told the judge that the two Dorseys were running an "aggressive telemarketing scam" between January 2003 and March 2007, targeting Americans. The victims, who were largely seniors, were offered loans, lottery prizes and U.S. treasury bills or bonds, but were told there were advance fees. They were induced to send money orders and money transfers to cover those costs. None of the items promised were ever forwarded, however, no matter how much money was sent.

According to Christie, the Dorseys remained at arm's length by recruiting others to pick up the money transfers and cash money orders, allowing them to retain $50 on each transaction.

She told the judge that Wyer, who was identified in court as having been the common-law spouse of Dorsey Sr. for 2 1/2 years, cashed five money orders totalling $2,606 from one California man. Christie said she also made calls to U.S. citizens, delivering the scripted pitch that induced the victims to dip into their savings. Additionally, when police searched her bedroom last March after a first round of charges was laid, a personal phone book was found that contained the address for a money "drop" in Toronto, where some victims' fees were directed.

Wyer's share of the California man's money was only $250, however, according to the Crown, and Kemp told the judge his client is currently on social assistance. She completed a program at the Kingston Learning Centre, hoping to become an educational assistant, he told the judge, but was unable to find work in that field because of her outstanding fraud charge.

MacDonald admitted cashing only one $500 money order, at the request of Terry Dorsey, and told police he was allowed to keep $50.

He has no criminal record and his lawyer, Lawrence Silver, advised Beaman that his client's only income is a disability pension resulting of a cracked vertebrae.