A Hanford man, Dale Lake, has been subjected to a consent decree to prevent his involvement in an alleged mail and wire fraud scheme, particularly one that exploited senior citizens, according to U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert. Announced today, the decree follows a lawsuit pursued under the Anti-Fraud Injunction Statute, implicating Lake as a "money mule" in a scam that conned elder individuals into believing they had won a prize, thus coaxing them to send money or gift cards.
Filed in the Eastern District of California, the lawsuit painted a vivid picture of Lake's suspected activities, which involved receiving fraudulently obtained funds and funneling them to associates in Jamaica. In the sequence of the scam, other fraud scheme participants would first reach out to potential victims with the insidious falsehood of a windfall and, once their interest was piqued, led them to transfer money to Lake, supposedly to claim their fictitious prizes.
With the decree receiving approval from U.S. District Judge Jennifer L. Thurston, its terms firmly prohibit Lake from any future participation in prize promotion frauds or money-transmitting businesses. It also grants the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) the authority to monitor his incoming mail to ensure adherence to the decree's conditions. As quoted from an official announcement, U.S. Attorney Talbert stressed, "Money mules facilitate fraud against vulnerable populations. The U.S. Attorney’s Office will hold accountable anyone who engages in schemes to defraud the public."
This legal move reflects a broader stratagem by law enforcement, including the efforts of agencies like the USPIS, FBI, and others within the Justice Department, to clamp down on networks that perpetuate financial deception, especially harming the older members of our community. These schemes span from lottery fraud to more personal cons like romance scams and grandparent scams and also target businesses or even government pandemic funds. Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert A. Fuentes was the handler of this case for the United States, working in concert with USPIS for the investigation leading to this decree.
The USPIS remains diligent in its pursuit of those who lend their services as money mules, with Inspector in Charge Stephen M. Sherwood of the USPIS San Francisco Division affirming, "Postal Inspectors will continue to use all the tools of law enforcement, including civil remedies, to protect the public from fraud schemes employing money mules."
