It was a cruel scheme, prosecutors said.
Three people made phone calls to elderly victims offering a delightful surprise.
The schemers told their victims they’d won the Publishers Clearing House sweepstakes, the contest in which winners famously received jumbo-sized checks at their homes.
But in this case, prosecutors said, the schemers said there was a catch: Before victims could collect their winnings, they had to pre-pay expected taxes and fees.
That led the trio of conspirators to collect nearly $400,000 in illicit returns, often from victims who were financially vulnerable. The victims did not receive any winnings.
On Friday, U.S. District Judge R. Barclay Surrick sentenced the final defendant in the case, Ariel Bagalue, to four years of probation, and also ordered that she pay her victims restitution.
“I certainly hope that you’ve learned,” Surrick said.
Prosecutors said Bagalue was not the scheme’s ringleader. Instead, she pleaded guilty to a money laundering charge, and admitted helping her codefendants — Jowayne Godfrey, of Florida, and Vinmar Y.A. Mitchell, of New York — collect and distribute proceeds to each other.
Mitchell was sentenced earlier this year, and also was placed on probation. Godfrey, meanwhile, was ordered to serve 30 months in prison. They, like Bagalue, are responsible for paying their victims back.
In an indictment unsealed in 2023, prosecutors said the trio targeted older victims — including an 89-year-old woman from Glenolden — and made promises of million-dollar winnings and luxury cars, including a Mercedes-Benz.
But they said the winnings could only be collected after the victims sent money to pay off purported taxes or fees. The scammers were often demanding, prosecutors said, and sometimes asked their victims to purchase gift cards or iPhones, which they said would be credited to the fictitious winnings.
In the Glenolden victim’s case, prosecutors said, the victim sent payments to the group over the course of a few weeks. In all, they said, she was duped out of about $10,000.
Bagalue said in court Friday that she was sorry for her role in the scheme.
“I couldn’t believe the extent it went to,” she said. “I am ashamed, and I do take responsibility for what I’ve done.”