As announced by the representatives from the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service Charlotte Division, Criminal Investigations, three people have been arrested and sentenced with alleged connection with $11 million telemarketing scheme designed to defraud the elderly in the United States. They are Donald Dodt, 76, from Cleveland, Ohio, Thomas Sniffen, 58, from Peekskill, NY, and Michael Saxon, 50, from Ontario Canada, and have each been sentenced to 90 months and a restitution in the amount of $7 million, 114 months and $11,236,857.65, and 75 months and $2,593,574.02 in prison respectively.
Dodt pleaded guilty in May 2019 with several counts of both local and international money laundering, Sniffen pleaded guilty on 31 accounts of wire fraud, money laundering etc, in April 2019, while Saxon pleaded guilty in May on account of money laundering, wire fraud, and conspiracy to carry out international money laundering. It was also discovered that the three of them jointly committed the fraud and worked in a call center in Costa Rica. They convinced the victims that they would gain great rewards but they needed to make up-front payment for insurance fees, tax, and imports. It was later made known that Dodt, Sniffen, and Saxon collected money up to $11 million from these victims.
