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Woman sought in eBay fraud case

By Eric Young

(IDG) -- Federal authorities issued an arrest warrant Monday for the girlfriend of a man wanted for bilking eBay users through several hundred phony art auctions.

Terri Ann Galipeaux, 45, is charged with concealing Kenneth A. Fetterman, 33, of Placerville, Calif. The FBI wants Fetterman on fraud and money laundering charges for allegedly participating in a ring of fraudulent bidding in hundreds of art auctions on eBay, including one last year in which an eBay user was induced to bid more than $135,805 for a fake Richard Diebenkorn painting.

Two other men charged in that case -- Kenneth Walton and Scott Beach -- have pleaded guilty to charges that they placed phony bids to push up the sale price of art auctioned on eBay. In exchange for their pleas, federal prosecutors said they will ask for lenient sentences.

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Federal investigators are charging Galipeaux with hiding Fetterman since shortly after the charges were issued on March 8, 2001. Around that time, prosecutors charge, Galipeaux and Fetterman fled the Stateline, Nev., apartment where they were staying and began living in various motel rooms in the South Lake Tahoe, Calif., area, checking in under fake names. At one motel, for example, Galipeaux booked Fetterman in a room under the name Becky White. Investigators said Galipeaux attempted to feed the FBI false information about Fetterman's whereabouts, instructing her mother to tell the FBI that she and Fetterman were "going North."

Fetterman is charged with four counts of wire fraud, six counts of mail fraud and six counts of money laundering. The fraud counts each carry a sentence of up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, and the money-laundering counts carry a sentence of up to 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.

If convicted, Galipeaux faces up to five years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.