BRITISH MUM’S
A MUM fell for a prison pen pal only to discover he was still married, had a girlfriend and was stringing along at least two other online devotees.
Chelsea Woodhall, 20, had sent the lag cash on a weekly basis and fears she is among a growing number of British women falling for online scams.
She became pen pals with US prisoner Andrew Aguirre just nine days after having her first child.
He flattered her by writing: “I can never get enough of you... I hope this letter puts a smile on your face.
“I am thinking about you every second of the day... I always find myself talking about you to my friends. I feel so blessed to have someone like you in my life.”
Aguirre even said Chelsea’s son would become “a big part of my life” and added: “Would you really wanna marry me?”
Chelsea’s already struggling relationship with her partner Dean Lloyd, 24, collapsed altogether as she became besotted with 23-year-old Aguirre.
CONNECTION
He is serving 12 years in Idaho Maximum Security Institution for assault. Chelsea, a former psychology and criminology student, even dreamed of living with him in the US.
But just weeks after splitting with Dean for good, she discovered Aguirre had another British pen pal who said she too was sending money.
She also discovered he is going through a divorce, has a girlfriend and at least one other pen pal. Chelsea said: “I loved Andrew and thought I was the only woman in his life. While we’d never met or spoken, we wrote all the time. I thought we had such a connection.
“I said I would be happy to wait until he got out of prison. We even discussed marriage. I was absolutely devastated to discover he was cheating on me.”
Chelsea contacted Aguirre through website writeaprisoner.com, which encourages pen pals.
She has since found out that although many men on the website are genuine, other UK women say they have been scammed.
On a Facebook group for Brits writing to US prisoners, she found out one inmate was talking to over 70 UK women – and many had sent money.
Chelsea, from Walsall, West Mids, added: “Many women don’t report it because they are embarrassed. But I aim to raise awareness so others don’t go through what I have.”
She had come across the website during her studies and had already been writing to one inmate in a platonic friendship.
Chelsea said: “Many inmates are so lonely. They don’t have visitors and writing letters is the only thing they look forward to.
“Andrew’s profile on the website intrigued me. He said he was star sign Gemini and was outspoken, passionate, loyal and honest. I’d enjoyed writing to the other inmate – he had just been a pen pal friend – and so decided to drop Andrew a line.”
Aguirre had said in his profile: “I give everything to the things that matter to me. I’m as loyal and honest as you can be. I’m straight forward; I don’t like to beat around the bush. I’m always looking to have a good time and I’m not scared to try new things. I can’t stand drama; I try to avoid it as much as possible, life is too short to be stressed out and worried all the time.”
Chelsea admitted that she fell for Aguirre as they exchanged dozens of letters over just a few weeks.
She and night shift warehouse worker Dean had been together for 18 months when they had baby son Kobi. Chelsea went on: “Having a baby put a strain on our relationship, which was already rocky.
“A lot of the time I was on my own stuck in the house with a tiny baby. Writing to Andrew was something to
We thought of marriage and I would have gone to US to be with him CHELSEA WOODHALL ON FALLING FOR PENPAL LAG