Former Jackson wedding planner pleads guilty to fraud

STEELVILLE, Mo. -- Prosecutors will push for a prison sentence rather than probation for Michael J. Erzfeld, the Jackson wedding planner who pleaded guilty Tuesday to using customer credit cards to purchase expensive wine, home furnishings and art.

Under an agreement with the Cape Girardeau County prosecuting attorney's office, Erzfeld pleaded guilty to a single felony count of fraudulent use of a credit device in exchange for prosecutor's dropping four additional felony counts, assistant prosecuting attorney Jack Koester said. The agreement did not, however, include a sentencing recommendation, and Koester said he will ask for a jail or prison term for Erzfeld.

Erzfeld appeared in Crawford County before Circuit Judge William Seay and admitted using the credit card number of a student who attended a real estate class in 2005 to purchase a $1,000 worth of wine in November 2008.

Seay set sentencing for Jan. 5, Koester said.

The fraud was discovered when a FedEx delivery driver became suspicious when he delivered the wine to Deerfield Lodge and Erzfeld was waiting for the shipment outside the closed business in his pickup truck. Calls to the credit card customer revealed he had not purchased any wine, and FedEx contacted the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department. Erzfeld was arrested in early December after deputies conducting a search of his home seized the wine, a $3,000 champagne bucket and an $800 brown crystal elephant with pink polka dots they believed were purchased using customer credit cards.

At the time of his arrest, Erzfeld operated Custom Events, a party planning service, from his Jackson home. Investigators linked the fraudulent purchases to a real estate school Erzfeld operated in 2005, when he also ran Custom Mortgage in Cape Girardeau. Deputies seized a box of receipts from the real estate school they believed were the source of the credit card numbers used by Erzfeld.

The single charge carries a maximum penalty of four years in state prison or one year in the county jail. A sentencing assessment report will be prepared, but the prosecutor's office intends to recommend that Erzfeld serve a prison sentence rather than receive probation, Koester said.

"We are not recommending probation on it," he said. "If he is placed on probation, restitution would certainly be sought for all of" the dropped charges. "The sentencing assessment report will help with that."

A possible prison sentence isn't Erzfeld's only worry. Since his arrest, courts have entered nine civil judgments totaling $248,521 against him, many from clients of Custom Events seeking restitution. The largest judgment, for $200,000, was won by Erzfeld's former mother-in-law, JoAnn Reiker, who claimed Erzfeld had defrauded her as he sought investments in the party planning business.

John Heisserer, attorney for Reiker, said his client doesn't know when she will receive her money but that Erzfeld never disputed her claim except to argue he didn't deliberately defraud her.

"I think she realizes the chances of significantly collecting on the judgment are remote, although he has indicated he has every intention of making things right," Heisserer said. "It was the bulk of her life savings."

rkeller@semissourian.com

388-3642

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Steelville, MO

Jackson, MO