UPDATE:
Just before 3:00 p.m., on Friday, Orlando police said, Rex Serio was arrested this morning on drug charges.
Police also said, there are no charges related to the search warrant at 3670 McGuire Boulevard at this time.
Serio will be walked out of the Orlando Police Headquarters at around 3:45 p.m., on Friday.
**************************
The assets of an Orlando-based debt collection company were frozen and a temporary injunction obtained, Attorney General Pam Bondi’s office announced Friday.
The company, which has used several names including, Vanderbilt & Associates and Buchanan Capital Management and their owner, have been barred from collecting debts from consumers. The company is located at 3670 McGuire Boulevard in Orlando.
Authorities say, the company would call consumers and claim to be law enforcement officials, government agents, process servers or county clerk’s office employees and intimidate or scare consumers into paying debts. In many cases these debts were non-existent, had already been paid or for which the company had no legal rights to collect.
“We will do everything within our power to protect Floridians from unlawful debt collection practices that often employ scare tactics to manipulate individuals,” stated Attorney General Pam Bondi. “My office will continue to partner with the Office of Financial Regulation and the Orlando Police Department to enforce Florida’s tough consumer protection laws.”
The temporary injunction bars the companies and their owners from engaging in unlawful debt collection schemes. It also bars them from using any unfair or deceptive practices in the collection of consumer debts and from violating of the Florida Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act and the Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act. The temporary injunction and asset freeze were obtained against Vanderbilt & Associates, LLC, Buchanan Capital Management, LLC, Merrill T. Miller, and their affiliates.
