HARTFORD, Conn. — A man from the Bronx, N.Y. was sentenced in Hartford Tuesday to one year and one day in prison for participating in a “grandparents scam” that defrauded elderly victims out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut.
Edward Rosario-Canela, 48, will be subject to three years of supervised release following his sentence, prosecutors said.
Court documents and statements note that Rosario-Canela participated in a “grandparents scam” in which fraudsters, who often live outside of the U.S., contact elderly victims in the U.S. by phone and pretend to be the victim’s grandchild in distress. The criminals persuade the victim to send money to “help” the grandchild, when they are really stealing.
Prosecutors said Rosario-Canela was a “money mule” in a grandparents scheme that victimized several individuals who lived outside Connecticut. They said Rosario-Canela was paid to pick up packages of money that victims mailed to Connecticut addresses and elsewhere and that he helped send the money to co-conspirators in the Dominican Republic.
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A judge on Tuesday ordered Rosario-Canela to pay restitution of $655,683, after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud on Nov. 17, 2022, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors said Rosario-Canela was released on bond and must report to prison on Sept. 16. The ongoing investigation is being led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Hartford Police Department and the Monroe Police Department, prosecutors said.
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Dalton Zbierski is a digital content producer and writer at FOX61 News. He can be reached at dzbierski@FOX61.com.
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