Florida man sentenced for role in stealing more than $100,000 in Social Security benefits

A Florida man has been sentenced to more than four years in prison for his role in stealing over $100,000 in Social Security benefits and targeting the elderly through a fraudulent sweepstakes.

Sanford resident Rohan Brown, 41, was sentenced in the Middle District of Florida to four years and three months in federal prison for committing mail fraud, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft between March 2014 and August 2016, the Middle District of Florida’s U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday.

In one of the schemes, Social Security benefits were redirected into fraudulent bank accounts opened in the name of multiple victims and controlled by Brown, according to the attorney’s office.

Brown also used debit cards created for those accounts to purchase money orders or obtain cash. The cash and debit cards were sent to Brown’s address or another residence he had access to.

During a search of his home, officials say they found documents relating to those fake accounts and debit cards in the names of multiple victims.

In another scam, elderly victims in the U.S. would get a call from a conspirator in Jamaica telling them they had won a sweepstakes. But in order to win the prize, they would have to send money for “taxes” to Brown in Orlando.

Back in March, when the office first announced that 20 individuals in the Middle District of Florida — including Brown and his conspirators— were charged in a nationwide elder fraud sweep, Brown and his conspirators were said to have stolen from over two dozen elderly victims across the United States.

Brown’s role in both schemes was “to receive mail containing victims’ money or fraudulent access devices (debit cards) loaded with Social Security benefits and, in turn, send a portion of the money to others in Jamaica,” according to the attorney office.

He first pleaded guilty to the charges in July before failing to appear Tuesday for his sentencing hearing. Officials say he fled to Jamaica before turning himself in to the U.S. Marshals Service.

The Social Security Administration lost $135,377.80 to the scheme. Losses related to the sweepstakes scheme are still pending, as of Thursday afternoon.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Social Security Administration – Office of the Inspector General, the Seminole County Financial Crimes Task Force, with assistance from the U.S. Marshals Service. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean P. Shecter.