Florida men sentenced for grandparent scam

Thousands stolen from NE residents

Two Florida men who admitted in federal court to scamming seniors out of thousands of dollars, including a Mentor man with dementia, were sentenced to prison July 27.

Tyler Pla, 25, and Johnny Lee Palmer, 26, both of Tampa were sentenced to 37 months and 33 months in prison, respectively. Northern District of Ohio Judge Pamela Barker sentenced the pair after the two men pleaded guilty in March to the nine-count federal indictment charging them with wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

According to court records, the two men traveled to Ohio and other states to execute their “grandparent scam.” The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio stated that

the scam also involved several unknown co-conspirators, who would identify and call the elderly victims and advise the victims that the victim’s grandchild (or other relative) had been arrested and needed money for bail. The caller would arrange for a courier to pick up the money in person for the purported bail.

Pla and Palmer’s role in the scam was to pick up the money from the victims and deliver the money to other participants in the scam, according to the attorney’s office. Pla and Palmer rented U-Haul trucks and vehicles to travel to the victims’ homes. The pair would keep a portion of the money for themselves. Victims were defrauded out of more than $383,000, according to court records. In her sentencing, Barker ordered the two men to pay that amount in restitution to the victims.

The men ran the scam from July 20 to Aug. 28, 2020, according to court records. The scam against the Mentor man happened in late August. The man received a call from someone pretending to be his grandson and someone pretending to be an attorney for the grandson. They claimed the grandson needed $8,000 in cash for bail.

Victims listed in the indictment were from Mentor, Lorain, Westlake, Gates Mills, Brecksville, Fairview Park, Parma and Mansfield. Additional victims resided in several other Ohio cities, as well as in Iowa and Wisconsin. These included victims from Painesville, Wickliffe, Russell Township, Chardon Township, North Olmsted and Avon.

For elder victims of financial fraud, the Justice Department operates the National Elder Fraud Hotline at 833-372-8311. The hotline is managed by the Office for Victims of Crime and is staffed by “experienced professionals who provide personalized support to callers by assessing the needs of the victim, and identifying relevant next steps.”

“Case managers will identify appropriate reporting agencies, provide information to callers to assist them in reporting, connect callers directly with appropriate agencies, and provide resources and referrals on a case-by-case basis,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio stated in a news release.

The release stated reporting can help authorities identify those who commit fraud and “reporting certain financial losses due to fraud as soon as possible can increase the likelihood of recovering losses.”