In brief

-- Deepa Bharath

COSTA MESA -- A 34-year-old Costa Mesa woman was one of three people

convicted of 24 counts of mail and wire fraud and eight counts of

money-laundering Thursday, officials said.

Department of Justice officials said Doreen Woods, along with Robert

Flarida, 32, of Anaheim Hills, and Jason Garcia, 26, of Corona,

orchestrated two illegal telemarketing operations that defrauded about

2,200 victims, mostly elderly, of $1.2 million.

All three participated in a widespread scheme involving a phony

magazine business from June 1995 to May 1997 in Garden Grove and Santa

Ana, officials said. They lured about 1,900 elderly victims to take a

magazine subscription, promising them “valuable” prizes.

Many received nothing, while some received inexpensive watches or

certain magazine subscriptions that were worth much less than the victims

paid, officials said.