ST. LOUIS — On Thursday, an Ohio woman was sentenced by a judge to two years in prison for her role in romance scams after trying to lie about it.
According to a press release from the United States Attorney Eastern District of Missouri Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Sarah E. Pitlyk sentenced Linda Matson, 62, after she lied to U.S. Postal Inspectors to hide her involvement with romance scammers to 24 months in prison.
On April 29, 2020, inspectors found two packages containing $50,000 each, one of which fell from an Express Mail package sent by Matson to a post office box being used in a romance fraud scheme, according to the release.
The inspectors spoke to Matson, who said she was scammed by someone claiming to be a lieutenant general in the U.S. Army, according to the release. Then, three days after admitting she had been duped in that romance scam, Matson began tricking her relatives into sending her money on behalf of her fake military officer.
Relatives gave Matson $590,000 to "help the fictitious military officer" obtain an imaginary portfolio containing cash and diamonds valued at $20 million.
“In an effort to conceal her continued involvement in the romance fraud scam and to expedite the return of the seized funds, on May 18, 2020, she sent multiple text messages to a postal inspector falsely claiming that she needed the money to buy posters and T-shirts to help find her missing 18-year-old niece,” according to the release. “Matson also sent links to news articles and Facebook stories about a missing Ohio teenager to deceive the inspector into acting quickly.”
Instead of providing the funds to the U.S Customs Service as she promised, Matson mailed the money to post office boxes controlled by the romance scammers, according to the release.
Two scammers that used the same tactics were previously sentenced to prison after they received more than $800,000 through post office boxes in St. Louis, which is why the cases were being heard in the Eastern District of Missouri.
Matson pleaded guilty in August to a charge of making false statements to a federal agent and admitted she intended to use the money for reasons she was concealing from the postal inspector.
She also admitted lying to the inspector and the FBI.
