A Georgia woman has been given a 24-month prison sentence for her role in a scam that targeted individuals in Missouri and Kansas. The fraud involved impersonating law enforcement officers and conning victims out of thousands of dollars. U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey handed down the sentence on Wednesday, with the court also ordering the restitution of the defrauded sum, as reported by the U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Missouri.
Ariel Burden, the 33-year-old Atlanta-area resident, was part of a nefarious group that made calls seemingly from phone numbers associated to the local law enforcement. Victims were led to believe they had missed court appearances and had outstanding warrants. The scammers exerted pressure on individuals, threatening arrest unless they paid thousands of dollars to a fabricated bondswoman, who was in reality Burden herself, operating under the alias "Jennifer Davis."
During the execution of the scheme, one victim from Jefferson County, Missouri was duped into paying $12,000. Burden has admitted to defrauding three victims for a collective amount of $28,000. The investigation was a cooperative effort involving Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations, the Jefferson County, Missouri Sheriff’s Office and the McPherson, Kansas Police Department, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Ladendorf heading up the prosecution.
Previously pleading guilty to one count of wire fraud in September, in a U.S. District Court in St. Louis, Burden will be transported back to Georgia. There, she will face the legal music relating to a possible revocation of her probation in an unrelated aggravated battery case.
