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American man given 5 years for
Russian brides scam
A San Bernardino County man was
sentenced to five years in federal prison yesterday for cheating men
out of more than $1 million in a Russian bride scam.
The sentence was imposed from an April plea bargain in which Robert
McCoy, 40, of Rancho Cucamonga admitted defrauding more than 250 men
and agreed to pay back his victims $737,521. Prosecutors dropped other
charges.
Investigators positively identified 352 victims, but there may be
more, said San Diego-based federal prosecutor Richard Cheng.
Anna Grountovaia, 32, McCoy's wife and the mother of his 2-year-old
daughter, was sentenced to three years probation after having served
11 months in jail.
Grountovaia, a Russian who met McCoy through the Internet before
moving into his home, said she posed as a prospective bride in
telephone calls with some of the victims, including several San Diego
men. She pleaded guilty to fraud and may be deported.
She met him after the scam was already under way and didn't play a big
part in the scam, filling in when he needed a woman with a Russian
accent, her lawyer said.
Most of the victims spoke with women in Russia, lawyer Timothy Scott
said in court papers.
McCoy is a drug-addicted felon who sports gang tattoos and has earlier
convictions on assault, kidnapping and weapons charges, according to
court papers.
In court filings, prosecutor Cheng detailed the scheme this way:
McCoy met his victims through personal ads he placed or answered on
Web sites including America Online and Match.com.
In each case, he wrote e-mails posing as a Russian woman seeking love
and sent pictures of a pretty model.
Eventually, a visit would be arranged, and the victim was told a
Russian dating service needed about $1,800 to pay for a visa and plane
tickets.
On the day the victim was expecting the woman to arrive, McCoy would
write as an official from the fictitious dating service and said there
was a problem: A new regulation required the woman to carry $1,500
cash to enter the United States.
The service would lend her $500, but the victim needed to wire an
additional $1,000.
The men learned they were taken days later, when their e-mails were
ignored or bounced back because the accounts were closed.
The FBI began investigating the scam after a Baltimore man told a
London newspaper about the scheme.
McCoy regrets what he did and plans to use his prison time to get off
drugs, said his lawyer, Arthur Greenspan, who blamed the drug
addiction as a big reason for McCoy's behavior.
A Web site on Russian scams tells prospective suitors to beware any
woman who asks for money after an online meeting.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Courtesy : Union Tribune, June 23rd 2004
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