Las Vegas Creates Prison Time for Mail Fraud Case Worth $10 Million
Three men from Southern Nevada received lengthy prison terms on Friday for their involvement in a multimillion-dollar prize scheme targeting the elderly and vulnerable. The convictions were revealed by authorities.
The three men involved were:
- Mario Castro, 55, of Las Vegas, who was sentenced to 20 years
- Miguel Castro, 58, of Las Vegas, who received a 19.5-year sentence
- Jose Luis Mendez, 49, of Henderson, who was given a 14-year prison term
All three men were found guilty of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and mail fraud after a jury trial in April. The scheme is believed to have defrauded its victims of more than $10 million.
Millions of Mailers
Between 2010 and 2018, the offenders printed and mailed millions of documents from a Las Vegas warehouse. These mailers led recipients to think they had won a cash prize. In order to collect these imaginary prizes, victims had to pay between $20 and $25.
"Victims who paid the fees did not receive anything of value," Nevada U.S. Attorney Jason M. Frierson said in a statement released on Tuesday.
Once victims were lured into the scheme, the defendants bombarded them with more fraudulent prize notices.
The United States Postal Service (USPS) investigated the fraud and USPS inspectors were granted warrants to search the warehouse. The U.S. Department of Justice also obtained a court order to end the fake prize operation. USPS served the operators of the scheme with cease-and-desist orders.
Defendants Tried to Hide Operations
The defendants attempted to hide their activities and continued to send out the mailers. They even changed the names of the companies they used and utilized straw owners to avoid detection, prosecutors said. Nevertheless, they were indicted in 2019.
The operators of the scheme included entities such as Imperial Award Services, Assets Unlimited, Pacific Disbursement Reporting, Special Money Managers, Price Awards, and Money Securities, according to the Associated Press.
"For eight years, Mario Castro, Miguel Castro, and Jose Luis Mendez used lies and deceit to steal from the elderly and vulnerable," Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department's Civil Division, said in the statement.
"The jury's verdict and today's sentences hold them accountable for their predatory conduct. The department is committed to protecting consumers from mass-mailing schemes."
The defendants participated in a conspiracy that tricked and misled elderly consumers with continuous promises of large cash prizes, Frierson added.
The Associated Press reported that attorneys William Brown for Mendez, Joshua Tomsheck for Mario Castro, and Lucas Gaffney for Miguel Castro assert that their clients are innocent. They plan to appeal the convictions and sentences, the report noted.
Four other defendants in the case previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud. They are Patti Kern, 65, of Henderson, Andrea Burrow, 43, Edgar Del Rio, 45, and Sean OβConnor, 54, all from Las Vegas.
