An Aubrey woman has been hit with a decade in prison after bamboozling elderly folks out of over $2.2 million in a romance scam. Ijeoma Okoro, 33, was also slapped with the hefty tab of paying the same amount in restitution, as announced by U.S. Attorney Leigha Simonton of the Northern District of Texas. After a seven-day trial and a grueling 10-hour deliberation in December last year, the jury found Okoro guilty on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering. Chief U.S. District Judge David Godbey sentenced her to serve her 10-year terms concurrently, the U.S. Attorney's Office reported.
Evidence in court showed Okoro and her crew of fraudsters created fake profiles on dating sites like Match.com and Zoosk to hunt down vulnerable, often older adults who were looking for companionship. They slowly gained their victims' trust with tales of commitment, only to spin complicated yarns about needing cash for overseas work snags or sudden family illnesses. These sob stories were meant to coax money out of their targets, promising to quickly pay it back.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Okoro's victims, believing in love and trust, transferred thousands to bank accounts in North Texas that were opened by the defendant and her co-conspirators. She distributed the looted funds and pocketed a slice for herself. At Okoro's sentencing, Judge Godybey sentenced her to an enhanced punishment after determining she lied under oath during her trial testimony, declaring she never had a part in any schemes to defraud or launder money.
Not going it alone, Okoro's operation included several co-defendants who have also faced the music for their roles. David Animashaun and Oluwalobamise Michael Moses both received 24 months in the slammer for their conspiracy charges to commit wire fraud. Emanuel Stanley Orji and Frederick Orji were both handed down 37 months for their conspiracy crimes. Yet another co-defendant, Chukwuemeka Orji, is currently on the lam. The heavy lifting behind the investigation was done by IRS - Criminal Investigation with a hand from the FBI's Frisco Field Office, Homeland Security, and the Department of Labor's Inspector General. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mary Walters, Jenna Rudoff, and Elyse Lyons spearheaded the prosecution.
