Las Vegas Grand Jury Indicts Trio for Sweepstakes Fraud That Targeted Elderly

A federal grand panel sitting inward Las Vegas this hebdomad indicted trio suspects — ane of whom resides inwards Las Vegas — inward connectedness with a big send scheme that defrauded thousands of victims, prosecutors said.

The participants were drawn inwards with the hope of hefty prizes, according to a Justice Department statement. But they would only get under one's skin the money if they paid a small fee. Those who paid the fee, however, ne'er got the promised cash, prosecutors said.

The losses to victims totaled nigh $15.5 million, prosecutors claimed. Millions of appreciate notices were mailed betwixt 2012 and 2018.

The indicted defendants include Barbara Trickle, 78, of Las Vegas, Kimberly Stamps, 46, of Gilbert, Ariz., and St. John Kyle Muller, 56, of Boulder, Colo.

Mail, Wire Fraud

Each is supercharged with cabal to charge send and wire fraud, as swell as several counts of mail put-on and conducting wire fraud, prosecutors said.

If convicted on the charges, from each one counting has a maximum sentence of 20 years inward prison. There is also a maximum fine of $250,000 or a crest based on the financial make received.

The defendants are scheduled to appear inwards Las Vegas federal courtroom on February 15.

The indictment claims Stamps and Hermann Joseph Muller selected and edited the mailings, as advantageously as self-possessed and processed payments.

Trickle produced the mailings, mailed them, and analyzed data on the responses, the feds claimed.

She owned and operated a printing and posting business. The business sector was identified in a prior Justice Department written document as Western Mailing Services and Cyber Solutions, Inc. It was based inwards Las Vegas.

The notices told victims they had won a large hard cash prize. The letters, which appeared to be personalized, asked for fees 'tween $20 and $50, KLAS, a local TV station, reported.

Cease and Desist Order

The administration sent out a cease-and-desist parliamentary law and reached an understanding with the operation inward 2012. But the trio continued to operate the mass-mailing scheme, prosecutors said.

Many of the victims were elderly and vulnerable. federal official officials said that protecting seniors from illicit schemes is a priority.

The section is committed to investigating and prosecuting mass-market schemes that harm seniors and other vulnerable persons,” Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, chief of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, said inwards a statement.

Inspector-in-Charge Eric Shen of the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) Criminal Investigations Group added, “These individuals took reward of the euphory of winning a prize to bilk victims come out of their money, when inward fact they knew there was no value waiting; all piece violating a previous cease-and-desist ordering to stop their fraudulent behavior.”

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