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Man Pleads Guilty to Conducting Jury Duty Scam While in Prison, Faces up to 20 Year Sentence

Published February 3, 2022

A Georgia man has pleaded guilty in Louisiana to conducting a jury duty scam while in prison. He now faces up to 20 more years in prison.

Louisiana – United States Attorney Brandon B. Brown announced that an Atlanta, Georgia man, who was an inmate serving time in the Georgia Department of Corrections at the time of his crimes, has pleaded guilty to a wire fraud conspiracy in the Western District of Louisiana. Andre Deaveon Reese, 32, entered his guilty plea before United States District Judge Donald E. Walter on January 28, 2022.

According to evidence presented to the court at the hearing, Reese participated in a scheme to defraud victims by telling them they had failed to appear for jury duty and a warrant had been issued for their arrest. This scheme was carried out while Reese was serving time in Georgia’s Autry State Prison (Autry) in 2015 and continuing through July 2020. To carry out this scheme, inmates used contraband cellular phones from within Autry to access internet websites in order to identify the names, addresses, and phone numbers of potential fraud victims.

Using cellular phones, inmates called victims whose names and phone numbers had been obtained, and made false representations to the victims. The inmates informed the victims that they were law enforcement officers and that the victim had failed to appear for jury duty on purpose. Furthermore, the victims were informed that because they had failed to appear for jury duty, warrants for their arrest had been issued, and the victim had the option of being arrested on the warrant or paying a fine to have the arrest warrant dismissed.

To make the calls appear genuine, Reese and other inmates created fictitious voicemail greetings on their contraband cellular phones, identifying themselves as members of legitimate law enforcement agencies such as the US Marshal Service. If a victim wanted to pay a fine, the inmates instructed them to buy pre-paid cash cards and provide the cash card’s account number, or the victim could wire money directly into a pre-paid debit card account held by the inmates or one of the co-conspirators. On the basis of these false representations, the victims electronically transferred money to the inmates, believing that the funds would be used to pay the fine.

After a victim provided an inmate with the account number of the pre-paid cash card, the inmates used their contraband cellular phones to contact co-conspirators who were not incarcerated and requested that the money be transferred from the cash card purchased by the victims to a pre-paid debit card owned by the co-conspirators. The co-conspirators would then withdraw the victim’s money from an ATM or from a retail store.

In August of 2016, two people in the Western District of Louisiana, ages 75 and 78, fell victim to Reese’s scheme. The victims trusted the callers, who were inmates posing as legitimate law enforcement officers, and paid them to have the alleged warrants for their arrest for failing to appear for jury duty dismissed. A Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigation determined that the two victims paid Reese and his co-conspirators $9,797.95.

“Unfortunately, there are individuals such as this defendant who have no shame in taking advantage of people who are trusting,” stated U.S. Attorney Brandon B. Brown. “We encourage the public that when someone calls and gives you a story such as this to be cautious and contact your local law enforcement office to confirm that the story is true before you agree to pay any money to anyone. Our office will continue to investigate and pursue individuals who carry out these types of fraudulent schemes.”

Reese is facing up to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both. Reese’s sentencing hearing has been scheduled for May 20, 2022.

The FBI and US Marshals Service investigated the case, which is being prosecuted by Assistant US Attorney Mary J. Mudrick.

OVC established the National Elder Fraud Hotline as a resource for people to report fraud against anyone aged 60 or older. Certain financial losses caused by fraud should be reported as soon as possible, preferably within the first 2-3 days, to increase the chances of recovering losses. The hotline is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. To learn more about the hotline, go to https://stopelderfraud.ovc.ojp.gov/.