PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Two men were charged in federal court Nov. 1 for their alleged roles as couriers in grandparent scams that targeted seniors in multiple states including Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
Roberto Munoz, 29, of Hialeah, Florida, and Jason Rhodes, 34, of Flushing, New York, are charged by federal criminal complaint with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. They appeared before a federal Magistrate Judge on Nov. 1 and were released on unsecured bond and GPS electronic monitoring.
Grandparent scams often involve an elderly victim receiving a telephone call and being told that a family member, often a grandchild, needs bail because they have been arrested for committing a crime or causing a motor vehicle accident. Scammers identify themselves as a family member, an attorney, or a member of law enforcement, and direct victims to obtain cash and give it to a courier who will either arrive to pick up the money, or meet them at a specified drop-off location. Couriers frequently operate in a particular geographical area, where they await instructions and victim information from other individuals participating in the scheme.
Court documents allege that in early March 2024, Munoz and Rhodes, operating as couriers, traveled to locations in Rhode Island and Massachusetts and collected approximately $230,000 in payments from unsuspecting victims in more than a dozen communities.
Warwick Police arrested Munoz and Rhodes on March 8, as detectives were investigating the third complaint they had received in a single week from area residents. Residents alleged they had been contacted by, or had fallen victim to, scammers. After one set of victims turned over $18,000 to a courier to cover what they were told was bail for their grandson, the grandparents were contacted again and told that their grandchild was now being sued for $100,000, and a $40,000 payment was immediately required. At this point, recognizing that the demands were part of a scam, the grandparents contacted the Warwick Police Department, which set up surveillance inside and outside the victims’ home while waiting for the courier to return. Rhodes was arrested at the house when he allegedly arrived to collect the money and Munoz was arrested while sitting in a car near the home, allegedly waiting the return of Rhodes.
Warwick Police and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) task force officers conducted a court-authorized search of the vehicle and a nearby hotel room registered to Rhodes and seized more than $60,000 in cash and other items. A subsequent investigation by Warwick Police and HSI special agents determined that the defendants had allegedly been provided the names and addresses of grandparent scam victims in Rhode Island in Coventry, Newport, Cranston, Hopkinton, West Greenwich, East Greenwich, and Smithfield. Additional names and addresses of alleged victims were found from Iowa and several towns in Massachusetts. Investigators seized a device from Rhodes at the time of his arrest that allegedly contained chat messages sent to him by Munoz containing names and addresses of target victims and their grandchildren in Wisconsin, Illinois, Virginia, Kansas, Maryland, Tennessee, Iowa, North Carolina, and New Jersey.
This investigation remains ongoing but evidence uncovered by investigators indicates numerous families in Rhode Island and Massachusetts been victimized.
A federal criminal is merely an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
The matter was investigated by HSI New England’s Providence Resident Agent in Charge office and the Warwick Police Department with the assistance of local police departments in Newport, Cranston, Hopkinton, West Greenwich, Smithfield, and Coventry; the Rhode Island State Police; local police in Braintree, Hanover, Plymouth, Scituate, Stoughton, Lakeville, and Northbridge, in Massachusetts; and the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department in Iowa.
If you or someone you know is a victim of elder fraud, call the HSI Tip Line at 877-4-HSI-TIP or the National Elder Fraud Hotline at 833-FRAUD-11.