{"id":8213,"date":"2014-12-23T11:42:04","date_gmt":"2014-12-23T19:42:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=8213"},"modified":"2014-12-23T11:44:17","modified_gmt":"2014-12-23T19:44:17","slug":"canadian-man-sentenced-seven-years-prison-scamming-elderly-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=8213","title":{"rendered":"Canadian Man Sentenced to Seven Years in Prison for Scamming Elderly People"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>CHICAGO<\/strong>\u2014A Canadian man who cooperated with U.S. law enforcement and voluntarily traveled from <a href=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Dept-of-Justice.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-1593\" src=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Dept-of-Justice-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Dept of Justice\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a>the Philippines to face federal prosecution was sentenced to seven years in prison for swindling 168 elderly victims nationwide of \u00a0about $8 million in a telemarketing fraud scheme, federal law enforcement officials announced Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>The defendant, \u00a0<strong>Austin Etches,<\/strong> 56, \u201cwas up to his eyeballs\u201d in the \u201cheinous\u201d crime, U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin said during the sentence on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>Etches, who has remained in federal custody since he voluntarily traveled to the United States in June 2013, was also ordered to pay restitution totaling approximately $8 million, officials said.<\/p>\n<p>Etches, who last resided in Toronto before Manila, pleaded guilty to mail fraud in June and cooperated in the investigation, which has resulted in pending charges against two alleged co-schemers, who are believed to be outside the United States, authorities stated.<\/p>\n<p>Citing letters to the judge from widows and retirees who were among the victims, Assistant U.S. Attorney Rachel Cannon argued in a sentencing memo, \u201cMany of the victims were at the most vulnerable point of their lives, between their advanced ages, the death of their spouses, and their or their spouse\u2019s health issues, not to mention their need for income,\u201d \u00a0officials said.<\/p>\n<p>According to court documents, Etches and two co-schemers operated a series of companies through telemarketing call centers located in and around Manila.<\/p>\n<p>Between 2008 and 2012, officials said they raised more than $8 million by fraudulently selling phony certificates of deposit and non-existent real estate investments to American senior citizens.<\/p>\n<p>They made false statements about the risks of the investments, the expected and actual rates of return, and the ways in which investors\u2019 funds would be used.<\/p>\n<p>They provided investors with fraudulent account statements purporting to show that investments had increased in value, knowing that they had misappropriated the funds and the investments were worthless.<\/p>\n<p>One elderly victim attended Etches\u2019 sentencing with her son, who spoke on her behalf, authorities said.<\/p>\n<p>He noted that his mother was an emigrant from Yugoslavia, and his parents had worked their entire lives in factory jobs. They managed to save $161,000, all of which Etches and others stole.<\/p>\n<p>The son described how the schemers hounded his mother with repeated phone calls, and they stopped calling her only when her son intervened, officials said.<\/p>\n<p>In late 2013, related federal fraud charges were filed in Chicago against <strong>Jonathan Papa<\/strong>, \u00a042, who is believed to be in the Philippines, and <strong>Methsiri Palliyaguru,<\/strong> 56, who was formerly in the Philippines and is now believed to be in Canada.<\/p>\n<p>The charges are not evidence of guilt and they are presumed innocent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CHICAGO\u2014A Canadian man who cooperated with U.S. law enforcement and voluntarily traveled from the Philippines to face federal prosecution was sentenced to seven years in prison for swindling 168 elderly victims nationwide&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2782,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,16],"tags":[1084,1085],"class_list":["post-8213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fbi","category-home-main-slider","tag-elderly-scam","tag-telemarketing-scam"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Canadian Man Sentenced for Scamming Elderly Victims<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A Canadian Man was sentenced to seven years in prison for scamming 168 elderly victims\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=8213\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Canadian Man Sentenced for Scamming Elderly Victims\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Canadian Man was sentenced to seven years in prison for scamming 168 elderly victims\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=8213\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Justice Notebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-12-23T19:42:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-12-23T19:44:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/IRS-Criminal-Investigation..jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"350\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"219\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=8213#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=8213\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Raul\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0\"},\"headline\":\"Canadian Man Sentenced to Seven Years in Prison for Scamming Elderly People\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-12-23T19:42:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-12-23T19:44:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=8213\"},\"wordCount\":442,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=8213#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/04\\\/IRS-Criminal-Investigation..jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Elderly Scam\",\"Telemarketing Scam\"],\"articleSection\":[\"FBI\",\"Home Main Slider\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=8213#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=8213\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=8213\",\"name\":\"Canadian Man Sentenced for Scamming Elderly Victims\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=8213#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=8213#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/04\\\/IRS-Criminal-Investigation..jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-12-23T19:42:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-12-23T19:44:17+00:00\",\"description\":\"A Canadian Man was sentenced to seven years in prison for scamming 168 elderly victims\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=8213\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=8213#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/04\\\/IRS-Criminal-Investigation..jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/04\\\/IRS-Criminal-Investigation..jpg\",\"width\":350,\"height\":219},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"American Justice Notebook\",\"description\":\"&quot;Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.&quot; \u2014  Thomas Jefferson\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"American Justice Notebook\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/Justice-Scales.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/Justice-Scales.jpg\",\"width\":675,\"height\":231,\"caption\":\"American Justice Notebook\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/AmericanJusticeNotebook\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0\",\"name\":\"Raul\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Raul\"},\"description\":\"Raul Hernandez is a former journalist. He has worked as a newspaper reporter for more than 30 years at the El Paso Herald-Post, El Paso Times, Press Enterprise in Riverside, California and the Ventura County Star in California. He was a court reporter for more than 20 years.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Canadian Man Sentenced for Scamming Elderly Victims","description":"A Canadian Man was sentenced to seven years in prison for scamming 168 elderly victims","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=8213","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Canadian Man Sentenced for Scamming Elderly Victims","og_description":"A Canadian Man was sentenced to seven years in prison for scamming 168 elderly victims","og_url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=8213","og_site_name":"American Justice Notebook","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook","article_published_time":"2014-12-23T19:42:04+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-12-23T19:44:17+00:00","og_image":[{"width":350,"height":219,"url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/IRS-Criminal-Investigation..jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Raul","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Raul","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=8213#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=8213"},"author":{"name":"Raul","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0"},"headline":"Canadian Man Sentenced to Seven Years in Prison for Scamming Elderly People","datePublished":"2014-12-23T19:42:04+00:00","dateModified":"2014-12-23T19:44:17+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=8213"},"wordCount":442,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=8213#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/IRS-Criminal-Investigation..jpg","keywords":["Elderly Scam","Telemarketing Scam"],"articleSection":["FBI","Home Main Slider"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=8213#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=8213","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=8213","name":"Canadian Man Sentenced for Scamming Elderly Victims","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=8213#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=8213#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/IRS-Criminal-Investigation..jpg","datePublished":"2014-12-23T19:42:04+00:00","dateModified":"2014-12-23T19:44:17+00:00","description":"A Canadian Man was sentenced to seven years in prison for scamming 168 elderly victims","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=8213"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=8213#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/IRS-Criminal-Investigation..jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/IRS-Criminal-Investigation..jpg","width":350,"height":219},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/","name":"American Justice Notebook","description":"&quot;Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.&quot; \u2014  Thomas Jefferson","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization","name":"American Justice Notebook","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Justice-Scales.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Justice-Scales.jpg","width":675,"height":231,"caption":"American Justice Notebook"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0","name":"Raul","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","caption":"Raul"},"description":"Raul Hernandez is a former journalist. He has worked as a newspaper reporter for more than 30 years at the El Paso Herald-Post, El Paso Times, Press Enterprise in Riverside, California and the Ventura County Star in California. He was a court reporter for more than 20 years.","sameAs":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8213"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8213\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8218,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8213\/revisions\/8218"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}