The Council Bluffs Police Department was among the agencies assisting in a nationwide fraud conspiracy case that has seen four Georgia men sentenced to federal prison.
U.S. Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa announced Thursday that according to public court documents, between March 2022 and April 2024, 26-year-old Russell Tafron Weatherspoon, 23-year-old Karl Andre Dieudonne, 32-year-old Demonte Tequis Brazil, and 25-year-old Gregory Lamar Scorza ran a multi-state fraud scheme–leading victims in several states, including Iowa, to believe that an arrest warrant had been issued for them for failing to appear in court.
Records indicate the scammers used names of local law enforcement officers and used an application that spoofed law enforcement phone numbers, telling victims that they would be arrested if a cash bond was not posted. Victims were directed to a bond company or other location to meet and pay a bond for failing to appear as an expert pursuant to a subpoena.
Weatherspoon led and organized the activities from a Georgia state prison. A drone was used to fly over the prison and drop cell phones into the yard that were then utilized by inmates to make the scam calls. Weatherspoon was sentenced to 130 months in federal prison in April, while Dieudonne and Brazil were sentenced to 36 months and 51 months, respectively, in May. Scorza was sentenced to 72 months in federal prison on September 9th. One additional man has been charged related to the conspiracy but has yet to be arrested.
You can read the full article at Albia News.