A 57-year-old Fort Wayne woman was sentenced to more than five years in federal prison and ordered to pay 1.4 million dollars in restitution for her part in an ongoing extortion scheme. She pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
A federal grand jury indicted Kelly Custer and three of her children in 2015. Kelly, William Custer Jr., Ashley Custer and Sydney Custer were all accused of running a seven-year scam in which they convinced people that the family was in danger from the mafia and needed money.
“We will not tolerate extortion or preying on the trust of others, in this case elderly victims of these perpetrators," said U.S. Attorney Thomas L. Kirsch II. "Schemes like these lead to the financial and emotional distress of victims. My Office in coordination with our law enforcement partners will aggressively prosecute individuals who harass and torment elderly victims with these egregious schemes.”
The charges included wire fraud and extortion. In total, the family is believed to have extorted nearly $1.5 million from their victims, according to federal court documents.
According to federal prosecutors, the victims claimed that in response to threatening messages, they paid “the mafia” in various amounts, ranging from $3,000 to as much as $50,000.
On Tuesday, Kelly Custer was sentenced in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana. Co-defendants William Custer, Jr., Ashley Custer, and Sidney Custer were previously sentenced following their pleas of guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and each was ordered to repay restitution to the victims in the amounts of $119,127.99; $118,583.16; and $14,399.78 respectively, according to court documents.
"Today’s sentence sends a strong message to scammers such as Ms. Custer that the FBI and our law enforcement partners will do everything in our power to hold accountable those who prey upon some of our most vulnerable citizens – in this case hard working seniors who thought they were helping a friend in need and that their own lives, and those of their family, were in danger if they didn’t,” said Grant Mendenhall, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Indianapolis Division, in a press release.
U.S. Attorney Thomas L. Kirsch II said, “We will not tolerate extortion or preying on the trust of others, in this case elderly victims of these perpetrators. Schemes like these lead to the financial and emotional distress of victims. My Office in coordination with our law enforcement partners will aggressively prosecute individuals who harass and torment elderly victims with these egregious schemes.”
