5 More Iowans Plead Guilty To Defrauding Elderly

CEDAR RAPIDS, IA — Five people from eastern Iowa pleaded guilty in federal court Friday to a scheme to defraud elderly victims via a telephone ploy in which the elderly person was asked to wire money to get a relative out of jail. That brings to 10 the number of people convicted in Iowa of the nationwide wire fraud scheme.

The case has been investigated by U.S. Customs and Immigration's Homeland Security Investigations and the Dubuque Police Department. Each of the five latest defendants admitted they had picked up wire transfers in the Dubuque area as part of the scheme, after others placed the calls and enticed the victims to transfer money via Western Union or MoneyGram.

The latest defendants are: Tiffany Reynolds, 32; Joshua Willis, 21; Payton McCarville, 23; Morgan Cornell, 20; and Paul Chase, 34. Each faces a sentence of 20 years in prison, a possible fine and up to three years of supervised release.

The U.S. Customs and Immigration Service reported that Willis remains in U.S. Marshals Service custody pending sentencing, while Reynolds, McCarville, Cornell and Chase were free on bond following Friday's plea.

Five other people previously pleaded guilty to wire fraud for their roles in the same scheme and admitted they, too, were collecting money from the wire transfers made by victims:

• Shawn Vaassen pleaded guilty March 2, and additionally pleaded guilty to unlawfully possessing a sawed-off shotgun.
• Carlos Rodriguez pleaded guilty May 9.
• Michael and Stephanie Marcov, a married couple, each pleaded guilty on May 19.
• Tobey Hines pleaded guilty Oct. 19.

The cases are being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Timothy Vavricek and Anthony Morfitt, Northern District of Iowa.

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