Miami- People went to them for a dream job — but got a snow job instead.
Miami-Dade police arrested a man and a woman Wednesday who they say set up an elaborate scheme to steal from dozens of people who responded to an ad for a high-paying job — with benefits — driving strippers around in a fancy car.
Gary Janiak Jr., 34, and Tracy Silverstone, 22, were charged with wire and communications fraud and grand theft — 333 felony counts each — after police served a search warrant on their West Miami-Dade home at 6 a.m.
They told people who responded to the ads in local newspapers that they needed to wire an initial deposit of $865 to the ”company” to pay for a luxury vehicle they would be driving, said Nelda Fonticiella, a police spokeswoman.
The job: Shuttling topless dancers and paid escorts for an upscale adult entertainment company to various appointments and events.
The salary: up to $5,000 a week. In cash.
Other ads sought escorts and actors in adult films — who also had to pay an $865 fee.
Would-be drivers and escorts were told their deposits would be returned after their first assignment, Fonticiella said. No assignment ever came, however.
In fact, after the initial deposit payment, victims were asked to wire additional funds to cover ”hidden job-related expenses,” Fonticiella said. Sometimes the ”hidden” costs would arise again and again.
Most victims made between two and five wire transfers to the suspects. One person lost $8,000, police said.
Police said there were 43 known victims — they suspect there are more they haven’t heard from, including people in the Northeast who were still responding to the ad Wednesday. They are male and female, ages 19 to 78, from Florida, New York, New Jersey, Colorado, Hawaii and California. Police did not release any of their names.
The pair were charged one count for each wire transfer by a victim, for a total of 333 each.
Janiak and Silverstone used different company names — such as Blue Star Entertainment, Tiffany’s Entertainment and Montana Entertainment — to ”avoid detection,” she said.
A 2002 article in The New York Post says a Queens man named Gary Janiak, then 32, was arrested and charged with aggravated harassment after he ”went a little berserk” and threatened to kill a TV reporter working on a story about him.
That Gary Janiak was the focus of a Fox News report that alleged he offered people a chance to make $4,000 a day escorting topless dancers — and charged them $800 for finding them the job that never materialized.
Juan DelCastillo, a Miami-Police spokesman, said he didn’t know if it was the same man. Public records show Janiak and Silverstone once lived in New York.