Bend resident Cathy Lawgates had been an LA Weight Loss member for around four years when she heard a rumor late last month that the Bend outlet was closing. When she visited the shop in the Old Mill District, the doors were locked, with a sign on the door that the business had already closed.

She said the company owes her money from at least 40 boxes of nutritional bars she said she ordered and did not receive.

Im disturbed that they wouldnt notify us so we can at least get the product, she said. Lawgates is one of an unknown number of Central Oregon men and women who were closed out of LA Weight Loss without warning or refund.

Former store manager Lucinda Owen, also a member affected by the closure, said the store had 300 members when she managed it four years ago.

LA Weight Loss representatives from the corporate office in Horsham, Pa., have not returned multiple calls for comment in the past two weeks.

The Bend outlet offered weight-loss counseling and retail sales of its food products, including breakfast bars, popcorn and other snacks. The franchise informed The Old Mill District that it would close Sept. 28, but instead closed Sept. 26, according to Noelle Fredland, marketing director for The Shops at The Old Mill.

Fredland did not know how much time was left on the businesss lease.

On July 13, the state Attorney Generals Office sued LA Weight Loss Franchise Co. and an Oregon franchisee, alleging false and misleading representations about its costs, products and benefits, said Jan Margosian, consumer information coordinator at the Salem office. The Oregon franchisee, NWM Inc., is based in Lake Oswego and owns roughly 10 other franchises, including Bend, the only one in Central Oregon. Representatives of NWM Inc. could not be reached for comment Wednesday and the Attorney Generals Office could not confirm if other stores had closed in the state.

The suit alleges that LA Weight Loss advertised that its program could be purchased for $9 per week, but consumers were required to pay hundreds of dollars for the entire program at the time of enrollment, according to a press release from the Attorney Generals Office.

The suit stemmed from a complaint filed in Marion County Circuit Court. The Attorney Generals Office is seeking repayment for Oregon consumers that covers most of the costs and fees connected with joining the weight-loss program. Its also seeking civil penalties.

Margosian said shes had at least two complaints about the Bend center closing and will add those complaints to data supporting the lawsuit. No court date has been set to hear the suit.

Former manager Owen says that shes an LA Weight Loss member, too, and says shes owed around $400 for the bars and whats left of her weight-loss program that included counseling sessions.

Like Lawgates, Owen believes it is wrong for LA Weight Loss to abandon its clients without warning or refunds.

There is a lot of pain involved, Owen said, with (members) seeing success and then being betrayed.