A MAN has appeared in court after playing a part in a charity collection scam.
Andrejus Jermolenko helped fraudsters who claimed to be raising money for local air ambulance charities.
Homes in Huddersfield were targeted with locals asked to donate their unwanted clothing to the doorstep collections.
But these were then shipped off abroad, with charities like Yorkshire Air Ambulance never seeing the funds they were supposed to raise.
Jermolenko, 30, claimed that he knew nothing about the bogus scheme, run by a company named Air Ambulance Support CIC.
But he did admit a charge of acting as a charity collector without a licence when he appeared before Kirklees magistrates.
Malcolm Hope, prosecuting on behalf of Kirklees Council, said that in July last year licensing officers working with police became aware of the company advertising in north Huddersfield.
He said that on July 22 officers attended Briarlyn Road in Birchencliffe.
He said: “They saw a number of bags on the road and intercepted a van containing two people collecting the bags.”
The company operating the scam was known to authorities around the country, the prosecutor said.
It was one of three closed down by the High Court in London last year following a government investigation.
Mr Hope said: “They advertise themselves as collecting on behalf of local air ambulance charities, using the logos of the charities.
“They then collect the clothing and it gets shipped off abroad.
“It is sold but the local air ambulances see nothing from the proceeds.
“They have no links with any of these services and are not endorsed by them.”
Jermolenko, of Lime Vale Way in Bradford, and his wife Dovele were arrested for the Huddersfield collections.
But Mrs Jermolenko, 22, was given a police caution.
Marnat Ali, defending, said that his client accepted his part as a door to door collector but was unaware that he needed a licence.
He said: “My client represents the bottom of the scale in this operation.
“The set up of the company and the distribution of the leaflets is arranged by his employer.
“Had he been aware of the status of the company he would not have undertook his work.”
Magistrates gave Jermolenko a community order for eight weeks with a curfew.
They also ordered him to pay a £400 fine.
Evaldas Guoga, said to be the director of the Birmingham-based Air Ambulance Support CIC, is due to stand trial for the scam.
He will appear before Kirklees magistrates on June 22.
