Source: United States Department of Justice News
Jackson, Miss. – A third defendant in a Nigerian fraud scheme pled guilty today to conspiracy, announced U.S. Attorney Darren LaMarca and Special Agent in Charge David Denton of Homeland Security Investigations in New Orleans.
Ruth Ann Charlton, 62, of Franklinton, Louisiana, pled guilty to the conspiracy, joining two other defendants who previously pled guilty to the same conspiracy: Edafe Onoetiyi, 34, of Nigeria but living in Dallas, Texas, and Susan Johns, 54, of Bothwell, Washington.
According to court documents, the defendants conspired with each other and other individuals to defraud American citizens by transferring bank account information, personally identifiable information, and other access devices to create and transfer fraudulent loans and perpetrate other forms of theft, resulting in the fraudulent transfer of hundreds of thousands of dollars both internally within the United States as well as to locations abroad, including Canada and Nigeria. Many of the victims of the fraud were romance scheme victims, wherein fraudsters concealing their true identities duped innocent victims into either sending money or allowing the fraudsters to use their bank account to move fraudulently obtained money.
The defendants will be sentenced by U.S. District Judge David Bramlette III on November 15, 2022, at 11:00 a.m. at the federal district courthouse in Natchez, Mississippi.
These convictions are the result of a multi-year investigation conducted by Homeland Security Investigations. The U.S. Department of Justice’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section assisted with preparation of the case.
Assistant United States Attorneys Erin Chalk and Andrew W. Eichner are prosecuting the case.