Hundreds of Utahns are investing in a heat pump and free electricity machine offered by a man who previously was convicted in other states of defrauding people who invested in his businesses.
Since 1975 Dennis M. Lee has been involved in schemes that ranged from a home repair business to a discount shopping network, proceeds of which he pledged to use to help spread world evangelism.This time, Lee's activities are entwined with an effort to create a movement to restore Constitutional values to government. "We The People of Utah" plans to unite patriots who believe state and federal governments aren't following the U.S. Constitution, Lee says.
He launched the movement in Utah because "it has the most declared patriots - 50,000 - of any state."
Lee has enlisted the support of a dozen well-known Constitutionalists in his "We The People" effort, many of whom he got to know during an appearance in November at a Preparedness Expo at the Salt Palace. He's set the movement up in an office at 1800 S. West Temple.
Lee unveiled "We The People of Utah" to a broader audience Jan. 5-6 at two public meetings in Orem. In a talk that blended conspiracy theory, religious conviction, patriotism and sketchy science, Lee said God inspired him to use his energy technologies to unite American patriots.
"I am deadly, and I mean deadly, serious about this movement," Lee told one Orem audience. "God told me to give this plan to you and I'm going to give this plan to you if I have to shove it down your throats."
Lee then outlined his plan to back the movement and patriot members financially. He'll offer them proceeds from distribution of a public awareness kit produced by Conserve Financial Services of America. Lee owns the company.
Each kit contains a manual describing a heat pump, a machine that can make electricity from air and other technologies Lee promotes. Also included are three videotape presentations of Lee explaining the technologies and his theories about an "American KGB" that wants to stifle his work.
He pledged that patriots and the "We The People" societies also would share in sales of the heat pump and electricity machine described in the kit - "if and when" they become available. The devices will make power companies obsolete, Lee said.
Lee says that is why several states have investigated his activities.
Interested people pay a $100 deposit to take a look at the public awareness kit for two weeks. If a person decides within that period to keep the kit, he or she turns the deposit over as a donation to the patriots' cause.
People who return the kit within 14 days will be given a refund, Lee said.
Lee said he'll split the $100 as follows: $15 for the national patriots society, $10 for the Utah patriots society, $35 to Lee's company to cover mailing and production costs, and $40 for the patriot who distributed the kit.
In 1990, Lee pleaded guilty to eight counts of felony fraud in Ventura, Calif., for selling similar kits that described a marketing plan for a heat pump and free electricity machine. Lee originally faced 38 felony counts of grand theft and fraud.
Lee is offering heat pumps to Utah patriots for $8,000, which he says they can then sell to large institutions like hospitals for $10,000.
Lee said he has a thousand heat pumps installed across the United States. He refused to give the Deseret News the name of anyone who currently uses his heat pump. Lee said the best way to get information about the device was to put out $100 and get an awareness kit.
Lee said he's sold "hundreds and hundreds" of his public awareness kits in Utah.
"The reception has been so positive that it made me want to cry," he said.
"Eighty-five percent of the people who get the kit voluntarily forfeit the $100 security."
That includes people like Wil Christensen, Provo.
The first kit Christensen got included a tape of Spanish/Japanese language lessons. Lee's company replaced the tape.
Christensen watched the videos but hasn't read the 200-page manual. "I've been too busy to pursue it," he said. "I'm cautious about inflated claims."
But Christensen hasn't requested a refund either.
Gary Van Horn, a South Jordan electronic engineer, reviewed the manual and watched Lee's tapes. He said Lee's heat pump follows generally accepted technology and probably works, although his results are "a little hard to substantiate."
Lee's manual also touts frictionless oil, a product that is already on the market, Van Horn said. What about the free electricity machine? Van Horn says "there's no such thing. He hasn't made sufficient information available on which to judge it. To accept free electricity requires a gigantic leap of faith. It's not something I'd want to invest my life savings in."
Al Roberts, who serves on the national patriots committee, hasn't seen a heat pump or free electricity machine but has unwavering faith in Lee and his devices.
"It works and is working a thousand places in the United States," Roberts said. "I have not seen any of them and have not asked where they were in operation. I trust him (Lee) a whole lot more than I do the (oil) cartel. I have the deepest respect for him."
Roberts said Lee makes no promises about when his heat pump or free electricity machine will be available. He only agrees to put people on a priority list to receive the devices "if and when" they become available, Roberts said.
Lee's trouble in California wasn't his first run-in with the legal system. Authorities in Seattle, Wash., investigated him for consumer fraud in 1985. The Washington attorney general's office charged Lee with fraud based on misrepresentations he made about Conserve Financial Services and the heat pump, said Lorraine Lewis, an investigator.
Lee falsely described the energy savings of the heat pump, incorrectly told residents that they could get a tax credit for installing the device and took money but failed to deliver the heat pump or give people a refund, Lewis said.
The attorney general's office won a judgment against Lee that required him to pay $7,000 in legal fees to the office and either deliver heat pumps to people who ordered them or refund their money. The order included a civil penalty of $25,000 for failing to comply with the judgment.