Home Economy Government Man sent to prison for scamming grandparents in R.I. and elsewhere

Man sent to prison for scamming grandparents in R.I. and elsewhere

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PBN Staff

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02/29/2024

svXubYP8-courthouse — A NEW YORK CITY man was sentenced to two and half years in jail for his role in scamming seniors, including Rhode Island residents, out of thousands of dollars, U.S. Attorney for Rhode Island Zachary A. Cunha announced Thursday. / COURTESY U.S. DISTRICT COURT

PROVIDENCE – A New York City man was sentenced to two and half years in federal prison for his role in scamming seniors, including Rhode Island residents, out of thousands of dollars, U.S. Attorney for Rhode Island Zachary A. Cunha announced Thursday. Jean Richard Audate, 38, pleaded guilty in February 2023 to charges of mail

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PROVIDENCE – A New York City man was sentenced to two and half years in federal prison for his role in scamming seniors, including Rhode Island residents, out of thousands of dollars, U.S. Attorney for Rhode Island Zachary A. Cunha announced Thursday. Jean Richard Audate, 38, pleaded guilty in February 2023 to charges of mail fraud and conspiracy to commit mail fraud. The sentence was imposed Wednesday by U.S. District Court Judge William E. Smith of the Rhode Island district. Following the jail time, Audate will have to undergo three years of federal supervised release. He was also ordered to pay $867,149 to the victims of the scam. In January 2021, police in New Haven, Conn., received reports from out-of-state police departments that elderly residents in their area had been defrauded out of large amounts of money through a grandparent scam. A broader investigation by the New Haven police and the FBI revealed that members of the conspiracy contacted elderly victims throughout the United States, including in Rhode Island, by telephone. Posing as the victim’s grandchild, a relative, a lawyer or other individual, members of the conspiracy falsely told the victim that a relative, typically the victim’s grandchild or child, had been arrested or jailed in connection with a car accident and that the relative needed money for bail or related legal expenses. To conceal the crime, members of the conspiracy falsely told victims that a “gag order” was in place in their relative’s legal matter that prohibited the victim from sharing information with anyone else. In numerous instances, at the direction of others, Audate traveled to various locations where he retrieved the cash payments that, as directed by the scammers, had been sent by the victims to designated addresses. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney John P. McAdams, and the Lincoln police assisted in the investigation, Cunha said.