Jamaican Man Sentenced In Florida For Lottery Scam
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami/AP) — A man from Jamaica is behind bars for running a lottery scam which targeted elderly people.
A Fort Lauderdale federal court judge sentenced Oneike Mickhale Barnett to five years in prison on Tuesday, April 29th. He pleaded guilty in February to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Barnett was involved in the scam in which they would tell the elderly people they had to pay fees to collect their winnings.
The scam was based in Jamaica. Federal authorities say Barnett and others claimed to be from a genuine sweepstakes company and from federal agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Reserve. Victims were told they had won large sums in a lottery but had to send a fee first.
The victims never got any winnings.
Barnett also must serve five years supervised release and pay $94,456 in restitution.
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