Jury convicts four of five men in McDonald's game scam

JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA - Four men charged in a multimillion dollar scheme to redeem stolen McDonald&#39;s promotional game pieces were convicted Friday in federal court. <br> <br> A fifth man charged in the case was acquitted. <br> <br> George Chandler, of Walhalla, South Carolina; Kevin Whitfield, of Savannah; Jerome Pearl, of Miami, and John Henderson, of Las Vegas, were convicted of conspiracy to commit mail fraud in the scam and were to be sentenced January 30, 2003. All four men are free until then. <br> <br> The four convicted men face a maximum of five years in prison and fines of $250,000. In addition, the government is seeking that the men pay restitution. <br> <br> Thomas Lambert, of Bowling Green, Ohio, was acquitted of the mail fraud charge he faced. <br> <br> The jury deliberated 13 hours over two days before reaching its verdict. <br> <br> The men were accused of conspiracy to commit mail fraud for recruiting winners or acting as winners in McDonald&#39;s ``Monopoly&#39;&#39; and ``Who Wants to be a Millionaire&#39;&#39; games from 1989 to 2001. The prizes included prizes as high as one million dollars and luxury sports cars.