She preyed on a RI widower through dating app Plenty of Fish. Now, she's going to prison.
PROVIDENCE – An Indiana woman will serve three years in federal prison after admitting to swindling a 96-year-old Coventry widower of $80,000 in a romance scam.
U.S. District Judge William E. Smith on Wednesday gave Brittany Rakia Shawnai Lasley, 34, of Anderson, Indiana, three years in prison after she pleaded guilty to creating a fake profile on the “Plenty of Fish” dating app and feigning interest in the nonagenarian to persuade him to send her money and gift cards and provide her access to his accounts.
Assistant U.S Attorney Paul F. Daly Jr. read a statement from the man in which he said he “was in shock and disbelief. It took me a few days to comprehend what had happened. I was embarrassed, horrified, and distressed about my financial situation, fearing that I could lose the house I had lived in since 1970.”
Lasley tricked victim into believing she was coming to meet him
Lasley led the man, whose wife had died a decade earlier, to believe that providing her with money, gift cards and credit cards would enable her to travel to Rhode Island to meet him. Once she had access to his personal information, she used the money to pay for her family to go to a water park, specialty features for her boyfriend's Cadillac, and hotel stays, as well as gas and scratch tickets. The man purchased $22,749 in gift cards for her, ranging from $50 to $500 in value.
According to prosecutors, Lasley had robbed him of enjoyment in his later years, and they added that the experience "continues to shape his relationship with his family.”
“This defendant preyed on a vulnerable, elderly Rhode Islander, dangling the promise of love and companionship in an attempt to help herself to her victim’s hard-earned savings,” U.S. Attorney Zachary Cunha said.
In addition, Lasley will remain on federal supervision for three years after her release, the first six months to be served in a residential reentry facility. Daly prosecuted the case with Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter I. Roklan.
How the scam played out
Lasley identified herself as “Sara Mills” upon encountering the widower online in May 2022. “Mills” initially told him she was 86 years old and lived in Evansville, Indiana, and posted a profile photo portraying herself as a white woman with blond hair and blue eyes.
The man told investigators that he spoke with Lasley 20 to 30 times on the phone between May 3, 2022, and July 17, 2022. He said that shortly after they met online, “Mills” was fully aware of his financial standing and within two days had made charges to his credit card. He acknowledged giving “Mills” his credit card information with the understanding she could use it for gas purchases to come visit him.
More: She scammed a 96-year-old Coventry widower out of $80k. Now she faces 20 years in prison
When he spoke to “Mills” about the charges, she told him she would contact the bank and pay it off. The charges were never repaid, the affidavit said.
A plea for leniency
Lasley’s lawyer, Rebecca Aitchison, asked that she serve a year and a day in prison, citing the abuse and neglect she endured as a child.
According to Aitchison, Lasley was denied her most basic needs, such as food, water and safety as a child. The family was often without heat or electricity, so much so that Lasley would sometimes heat water up on the stove for baths.
They led lives that were “fraught with abuse, poverty and neglect, which included a parade of her mother’s boyfriends coming in and out of the home and the open use of cocaine, pills and marijuana.”
Her mother’s current boyfriend exposed her to illicit substances through his involvement in the drug trade, leading to her addiction to cocaine combined with her untreated mental health disorders, her lawyer said.
Aitchison said it was Lasley’s mother who taught her how to pick pockets and instructed her to participate in various theft schemes.
Her lawyer cited progress Lasley has made since being held at the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility, where she earned certificates in hairstyling with hopes for a job in the field in Central Falls after her release. She also was said to have found God.
Lasley’s filing provided insight into a recent cybersecurity breach at Wyatt in which “detainees were locked down for over a week” and unable to attend church or educational classes. Lasley was unable to schedule and take the GED as originally planned.
“These drastic changes in services, comfort and access to help have inflamed her mental health issues,” Aitchison said.
Warnings that others could fall prey
Daly, however, argued that Lasley should be sentenced severely to prevent other vulnerable people from falling prey to her schemes. He alleged that a search of her phone revealed that four other men had been similarly defrauded.
Over the last 15 years, he said, Lasley had served time in prison for manipulating, deceiving and stealing from countless individuals but continued undeterred.
“The person who did this to the victim was not a novice; her skills were honed through years of fraud, deceit and related criminal conduct," he said.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Romance scammer from Indiana gets prison time for swindling RI widower
