Tampa Bay Officials Discover Undercover Unlicensed Business

March 22, 2012

Touched By An Angel, one of Tampa Bay’s largest homeless shelters, often referred to by Pinellas Park police, has been found to be operating an unlicensed telemarketing business in a substation of the shelter.

Complaints by individuals interred in Touched By An Angel about being made to work for a telemarketing company and receiving little or no pay, sparked an investigation by local police into the hidden aspects of life at the shelter.

A reporter then uncovered a two-room substation that housed the telemarketing facilities. More than two dozen callers worked in those two rooms making gas and electricity sales for the telemarketing business called Fruits of the Spirit.

Tampa Bay Times reports, “The Florida Department of Agriculture, which regulates telemarketers, said neither Fruits of the Spirit nor its principals are licensed by the state.” Fruits of the Spirit also does not hold a Tampa Bay, FL business license.

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