Inmate defrauded 2 elderly N. Louisiana victims out of thousands from behind bars in jury duty scam
SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – An Atlanta, Georgia man will spend nearly three years in jail for scamming two elderly North Louisiana residents out of nearly $10,000 dollars – all from behind bars in a Georgia prison.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Andre Deaveon Reese carried out the scheme while serving time Georgia’s Autry State Prison. Posting as law enforcement, Reese told his victims they had failed to appear for jury duty and would be arrested unless they paid a fine. The scheme continued from 2015 through July 2020.
The DOJ says Reese and other inmates use contraband cellular telephones to access internet websites to find names, addresses, and telephone numbers of potential victims.
For those victims who wanted to pay a fine, the inmates instructed them to purchase pre-paid cash cards and provide the account number of the cash card or the victim could wire money directly into a pre-paid debit card account held by the inmates or one of Reese’s non-incarcerated co-conspirators. Based on these false representations, the victims electronically transferred money to the inmates because they believed the funds would be used to pay the fine.
After a victim provided an inmate with the account number of the pre-paid cash card, the inmates then used their…