State reaches deal to shutter 3 firms that targeted elderly

New Jersey consumer affairs officials have reached an agreement to shutter three companies they say used highly aggressive and misleading telemarketing tactics to sell emergency medical response alert systems to elderly residents.

The settlement announced Wednesday calls for the companies and their owners to pay $295,545, which includes $206,000 in civil penalties and $8,669 in consumer restitution. The owners — Ezra Rishty, of Ocean Township, and Larry Ansell, of Tinton Falls — also agreed to be permanently barred from advertising and selling emergency alert systems in New Jersey.

Officials say the men sold the alert systems through their businesses: Life Aid Connect, Safety Alert USA LLC — also known as Med Aid Alert — and Mobile Alert.

They say customers were pressured to buy systems that weren't delivered, didn't operate properly or didn't operate at all.