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Three Texans among eight indicted in fraudulent sweepstakes and tax refund schemes

Eight people have been indicted in a fraudulent sweepstakes and income tax refund scheme, according to a federal grand jury indictment unsealed Wednesday.

Published

6 years ago

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SAN ANTONIO (Texas News Radio) — Eight people have been indicted in a fraudulent sweepstakes and income tax refund scheme, according to a federal grand jury indictment unsealed Wednesday.

Federal prosecutors say the scheme involved two people from Austin — 31-year-old Joel Calvin and 40-year-old Clarence Barefield — and one person from Mesquite — 54-year-old Donna Lundy.

The five others named in the indictment are 48-year-old Harry Cole, 41-year-old Emmanuel Ajayi, 47-year-old Tony Akinbobola, 31-year-old Bolaji Oyewole, and 54-year-old Akintola Akinmadeyemi.  All five are Nigerian citizens who live in Canada, except for Akinmadeyemi, who lives in Indiana.

The indictment says Lundy sold over $700,000 worth of lists on elderly potential victims of the scheme to Cole at a price of $1 per name.

Cole and his Canadian conspirators — from 2012 to 2016 — sent packages containing fraudulent sweepstakes information to their American conspirators.

These packages contained thousands of mailers, which were sent to victims notifying them that they had won a sweepstakes.

Those mailers contained a fraudulent check issued in the name of the victim of about $8,000 and a pre-addressed envelope.

The victims were then instructed to deposit the check into their bank account and immediately withdraw between $5,000 to $7,000 in cash or money orders.  They were told to send the money to a “sweepstakes representative” who would help the victim collect their prize.

By the time the victim was informed by the bank that the check was fraudulent, the cash and money orders would already be sent by the victims to the people accused in the crime.

The indictment says the intended loss from this scheme was $250 million.  The actual loss from the scheme was more than $900,000.

The indictment also alleges from June 2015 through June 2016, Ajayi was involved in a connected scheme to file more than 1,200 fraudulent income tax returns using stolen personal identifying information, with the intention to receive $25 million in refunds.

Ajayi used bank accounts involved in the sweepstakes scheme to receive the refunds.  That money was then funneled to American conspirators.

An IRS analysis determined the federal government lost $3.4 million to this fraud scheme.

The conspirators also operated a money laundering scheme in order to use the money they had fraudulently acquired.  This conspiracy involved knowing and unknowing participants.  The goal was to move the money from the sweepstakes scheme and the tax return scheme out the U.S. without detection.

Currently, the prosecutors say they are still looking for Ajayi and Oyewole, Lundy has agreed to turn herself in and the other defendants have been arrested.

All eight have been charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.  Ajayi faces additional charges of a second conspiracy to commit wire fraud count and aggravated identity theft.  Lundy faces a count of wire fraud.

Aggravated identity theft calls for a mandatory two years in prison upon conviction.  Each of the other charges call for up to 20 years in federal prison.

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Austin

Coming and going: where new Texans are coming from

The Texas population continues to grow, but where in the world are all of these people coming from?

Published

6 years ago

on

February 25, 2019

By

SAN ANTONIO (Texas News Radio) — The Texas population continues to grow, but where in the world are all of these people coming from?

The story varies by metro area

The data is based off U.S. Census Bureau migration estimates from 2012 to 2016.

1. Dallas-Fort Worth (7,233,323)

Dallas-Fort Worth is the most-populated metropolitan area in the entire state of Texas. Most people who move to the region are from other parts of the state, though there is a large percentage that come from other large metro areas like Los Angeles and New York.

Below are the estimated number of people who moved to or left the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area and where they came from or left to.

Top sources:

  1. Houston 14,980
  2. Austin 9,041
  3. Los Angeles 8,330
  4. San Antonio 7,273
  5. New York 6,214
  6. Chicago 5,079
  7. Atlanta 4,224
  8. Lubbock 3,211
  9. Washington 3,182
  10. Killeen-Temple 3,038

Top destinations:

  1. Houston 16,612
  2. Austin 11,449
  3. San Antonio 6,493
  4. College Station-Bryan 4,799
  5. Lubbock 4,658
  6. Oklahoma City 4,130
  7. Los Angeles 3,595
  8. Abilene 3,355
  9. Atlanta 3,251
  10. Tyler 2,969

While the numbers above show the volume of people moving, the figures below show where the metro area is gaining more people from than losing them to.

Highest net gain:

  1. Los Angeles 4,735
  2. New York 3,281
  3. Chicago 2,616
  4. San Juan, PR 1,579
  5. Shreveport 1,475
  6. Killeen-Temple 1,245
  7. San Diego 1,170
  8. El Paso 1,162
  9. Kansas City 1,049
  10. San Francisco 1,039

Highest net loss:

  1. Austin -2,408
  2. College Station-Bryan -2,276
  3. Abilene -1,804
  4. Houston -1,632
  5. Lubbock -1,447
  6. Longview -1,414
  7. Seattle -1,223
  8. Denver -975
  9. Portland -864
  10. Tyler -592
  11. Sherman-Denison -592
  12. Midland -552

2. Houston (6,772,470)

Top sources:

  1. Dallas-Fort Worth 16,612
  2. Austin 9,430
  3. San Antonio 7,163
  4. New York 6,277
  5. Chicago 5,932
  6. Los Angeles 5,007
  7. Washington 4,405
  8. College Station-Bryan 4,172
  9. Beaumont 4,021
  10. Miami 3,406

Top destinations:

  1. Dallas-Fort Worth 14,980
  2. Austin 13,987
  3. San Antonio 8,779
  4. College Station-Bryan 7,031
  5. Beaumont 4,670
  6. Los Angeles 2,775
  7. Chicago 2,576
  8. Denver 2,532
  9. New Orleans 2,515
  10. Corpus Christi 2,468

Highest net gain:

  1. New York 3,813
  2. Chicago 3,356
  3. Washington 3,270
  4. Los Angeles 2,232
  5. Miami 1,976
  6. Dallas-Fort Worth 1,632
  7. St. Louis 1,447
  8. Orlando 1,375
  9. San Diego 1,307
  10. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission 1,210

Highest net loss:

  1. Austin -4,557
  2. College Station-Bryan -2,859
  3. San Antonio -1,616
  4. Lubbock -859
  5. Beaumont -649
  6. Seattle -584
  7. San Jose -578
  8. Sherman-Denison -391
  9. San Angelo -390
  10. Denver -386

3. San Antonio (2,429,609)

Top sources:

  1. Houston 8,779
  2. Austin 8,076
  3. Dallas-Fort Worth 6,493
  4. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission 3,349
  5. Corpus Christi 2,682
  6. Laredo 2,018
  7. Washington 1,881
  8. Los Angeles 1,820
  9. El Paso 1,807
  10. Killeen-Temple 1,528

Top destinations:

  1. Austin 9,959
  2. Dallas-Fort Worth 7,273
  3. Houston 7,163
  4. Corpus Christi 3,176
  5. College Station-Bryan 2,399
  6. Washington 1,948
  7. Lubbock 1,466
  8. Killeen-Temple 1,397
  9. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission 943
  10. El Paso 932

Highest net gain:

  1. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission 2,406
  2. Houston 1,616
  3. Los Angeles 954
  4. Brownsville-Harlingen 881
  5. El Paso 875
  6. Phoenix 859
  7. San Diego 797
  8. Chicago 672
  9. Midland 610
  10. Tampa 566

Highest net loss:

  1. Austin -1,883
  2. College Station-Bryan -1,254
  3. Lubbock -891
  4. Dallas-Fort Worth -780
  5. Corpus Christi -494
  6. Chattanooga -471
  7. Nashville -395
  8. Cleveland -318
  9. Texarkana -302
  10. St. Louis -279

4. Austin (2,056,405)

Top sources:

  1. Houston 13,987
  2. Dallas-Fort Worth 11,449
  3. San Antonio 9,959
  4. Killeen-Temple 3,248
  5. New York 3,065
  6. Los Angeles 2,702
  7. Chicago 1,841
  8. College Station 1,707
  9. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission 1,609
  10. Washington 1,547
  11. Corpus Christi 1,456
  12. Phoenix 1,415
  13. San Francisco 1,364
  14. Waco 1,234
  15. Miami 1,074
  16. Lubbock 1,046
  17. Brownsville-Harlingen 1,032
  18. Denver 1,031

Top destinations:

  1. Houston 9,430
  2. Dallas-Fort Worth 9,041
  3. San Antonio 8,076
  4. Killeen-Temple 3,101
  5. College Station-Bryan 2,045
  6. Corpus Christi 1,672
  7. New York 1,581
  8. Los Angeles 1,410
  9. Phoenix 1,197
  10. Chicago 1,195
  11. Atlanta 1,157
  12. Washington 1,156
  13. Denver 1,144
  14. Waco 1,143
  15. Seattle 1,079

Highest net gain:

  1. Houston 4,557
  2. Dallas-Fort Worth 2,408
  3. San Antonio 1,883
  4. New York 1,484
  5. Los Angeles 1,292
  6. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission 900
  7. San Francisco 799
  8. El Paso 667
  9. Chicago 646
  10. Las Vegas 615

Highest net loss:

  1. College Station-Bryan -338
  2. Seattle -320
  3. Hartford -313
  4. Longview -302
  5. Nashville -288
  6. Raleigh -239
  7. Pensacola -239
  8. Atlanta -228
  9. Oklahoma City -227
  10. Beaumont -221

5. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission (849,843)

Top sources:

  1. Brownsville-Harlingen 2,096
  2. Houston 1,749
  3. Dallas-Fort Worth 929
  4. San Antonio 943
  5. Austin 709
  6. Corpus Christi 329
  7. Chicago 322
  8. Yakima 297
  9. Laredo 280
  10. San Jose 230

Top destinations:

  1. San Antonio 3,349
  2. Houston 2,959
  3. Austin 1,609
  4. Corpus Christi 1,514
  5. Brownsville-Harlingen 1,199
  6. Dallas-Fort Worth 1,046
  7. Beaumont 530
  8. Laredo 324
  9. Phoenix 315
  10. College Station-Bryan 252
  11. St. Louis 246
  12. Detroit 218
  13. Chicago 202

Highest net gain:

  1. Brownsville-Harlingen 897
  2. Yakima 264
  3. Lake Charles 198
  4. Flint 168
  5. San Jose 167
  6. San Diego 154
  7. Salt Lake City 149
  8. Mount Vernon, WA 132
  9. Lansing 128
  10. Chicago 120
  11. Sarasota 113
  12. Madison 110

Highest net loss:

  1. San Antonio -2,406
  2. Houston -1,210
  3. Corpus Christi -1,185
  4. Austin -900
  5. Beaumont -428
  6. Phoenix -264
  7. College Station-Bryan -191
  8. Detroit -171
  9. New Orleans -160
  10. Gadsden, AL -148

6. El Paso (841,971)

Top sources:

  1. Las Cruces 2,278
  2. Dallas-Fort Worth 1,403
  3. Phoenix 952
  4. San Antonio 932
  5. Odessa 929
  6. Houston 912
  7. Lawton 747
  8. Riverside 642
  9. Chicago 607
  10. Fayetteville, NC 622

Top destinations:

  1. Dallas-Fort Worth 2,565
  2. Las Cruces 2,551
  3. San Antonio 1,807
  4. Houston 1,627
  5. Odessa 1,021
  6. Phoenix 1,004
  7. Albuquerque 981
  8. Austin 976
  9. Washington 840
  10. Los Angeles 837
  11. Killeen-Temple 745
  12. Denver 667
  13. Seattle 624
  14. Lubbock 583
  15. Honolulu 552
  16. Corpus Christi 516

Highest net gain:

  1. Lawton 547
  2. Watertown, NY 386
  3. St. Louis 363
  4. Riverside 339
  5. Fayetteville, NC 269
  6. Orlando 254
  7. Manhattan, KS 249
  8. Chicago 232
  9. San Diego 229
  10. San Juan, PR 216

Highest net loss:

  1. Dallas-Fort Worth -1,162
  2. San Antonio -875
  3. Albuquerque -762
  4. Houston -725
  5. Austin -667
  6. Corpus Christi -484
  7. Seattle -463
  8. Washington -388
  9. Lafayette, LA -381
  10. Columbus -378

7. Corpus Christi (454,726)

Top sources:

  1. San Antonio 3,176
  2. Houston 2,468
  3. Austin 1,672
  4. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission 1,514
  5. Dallas-Fort Worth 1,043
  6. Brownsville-Harlingen 658
  7. Pensacola 532
  8. El Paso 516
  9. College Station-Bryan 501
  10. Laredo 465

Top destinations:

  1. Houston 2,698
  2. San Antonio 2,682
  3. Austin 1,456
  4. Dallas-Fort Worth 1,087
  5. Killeen-Temple 566
  6. College Station-Bryan 371
  7. Virginia Beach 365
  8. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission 329
  9. Amarillo 260
  10. Oklahoma City 245

Highest net gain:

  1. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission 1,185
  2. Brownsville-Harlingen 552
  3. San Antonio 494
  4. El Paso 484
  5. Pensacola 337
  6. Laredo 311
  7. Los Angeles 256
  8. Beaumont 240
  9. Melbourne, FL 219
  10. Austin 216
  11. Denver 190
  12. Indianapolis 182
  13. Daytona Beach 141
  14. Nashville 138
  15. Harrisburg 129
  16. San Diego 126
  17. Lake Charles 122
  18. Odessa 113
  19. Milwaukee 105
  20. Riverside 103

Highest net loss:

  1. Killeen-Temple -438
  2. Houston -230
  3. Port St. Lucie, FL -229
  4. Chico, CA -206
  5. Scranton -176

8. Killeen-Temple (435,857)

Top sources:

  1. Austin 3,101
  2. Dallas-Fort Worth 1,793
  3. Houston 1,603
  4. San Antonio 1,397
  5. Waco 1,205
  6. Seattle 1,201
  7. Fayetteville, NC 819
  8. New York 746
  9. El Paso 745
  10. Columbus, GA 632
  11. Kansas City 628
  12. Colorado Springs 592
  13. Cincinnati 588
  14. Corpus Christi 566
  15. Chicago 561
  16. Washington 557
  17. Douglas, AZ 517
  18. Honolulu 513
  19. Los Angeles 421
  20. College Station-Bryan 410

Top destinations:

  1. Austin 3,248
  2. Dallas-Fort Worth 3,038
  3. Houston 2,267
  4. San Antonio 1,528
  5. Waco 1,136
  6. Honolulu 986
  7. Colorado Springs 937
  8. Washington 785
  9. Atlanta 602
  10. Clarksville, TN 545

Highest net gain:

  1. Chicago 472
  2. Corpus Christi 438
  3. New York 418
  4. Fayetteville, NC 372
  5. Kansas City 355
  6. Seattle 345
  7. Los Angeles 339
  8. Macon-Bibb County, GA 271
  9. Columbus, GA 268
  10. El Paso 266
  11. Watertown, NY 233
  12. Miami 208

Highest net loss:

  1. Dallas-Fort Worth -1,245
  2. Houston -664
  3. Honolulu -473
  4. Atlanta -433
  5. Colorado Springs -345
  6. Denver -247
  7. Fort Knox, TN -246
  8. Washington -228
  9. Tampa -196
  10. Salem, OR -185

9. Brownsville-Harlingen (422,135)

Top sources:

  1. Houston 1,213
  2. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission 1,199
  3. San Antonio 545
  4. Austin 442
  5. College Station-Bryan 313
  6. San Diego 277
  7. Dallas-Fort Worth 273

Top destinations:

  1. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission 2,096
  2. Houston 1,483
  3. San Antonio 1,426
  4. Austin 1,032
  5. Dallas-Fort Worth 959
  6. Corpus Christi 658
  7. Miami 302
  8. Laredo 269
  9. Fort Myers. FL 259
  10. El Paso 173
  12. Highest net gain:

Highest net gain:

  1. San Diego 178
  2. College Station-Bryan 159
  3. Abilene 117
  4. Amarillo 117
  5. Tampa 116

Highest net loss:

  1. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission -897
  2. San Antonio -881
  3. Dallas-Fort Worth -686
  4. Austin -590
  5. Corpus Christi -552
  6. Houston -270
  7. Miami -268
  8. Fort Myers, FL -247
  9. Laredo -155
  10. Virginia Beach -110

10. Beaumont-Port Arthur (409,968)

Top sources:

  1. Houston 4,670
  2. Austin 835
  3. Dallas-Fort Worth 800
  4. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission 530
  5. San Antonio 502
  6. New Orleans 362
  7. Longview 346
  8. Lake Charles 344
  9. Asheville, NC 299
  10. Waterloo, IA 257
  11. Tyler 206

Top destinations:

  1. Houston 4,021
  2. Dallas-Fort Worth 1,287
  3. Austin 614
  4. Lubbock 523
  5. San Antonio 449
  6. Corpus Christi 429
  7. Lake Charles 323
  8. College Station-Bryan 278
  9. Victoria 235
  10. Miami 234

Highest net gain:

  1. Houston 649
  2. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission 428
  3. Asheville, NC 299
  4. New Orleans 284
  5. Waterloo, IA 241
  6. Austin 221
  7. Anchorage 176
  8. Longview 172
  9. Fairbanks, AK 160
  10. Gulfport-Biloxi 159

Highest net loss:

  1. Lubbock -490
  2. Dallas-Fort Worth -487
  3. Corpus Christi -240
  4. Victoria -235
  5. Miami -234
  6. College Station-Bryan -219
  7. Birmingham -180
  8. Texarkana -146
  9. Lafayette, LA -134
  10. El Paso -104

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Austin

Round Rock man, 45, guilty in kidnapping two girls, sexually assaulting 14-year-old

A Round Rock man accused of kidnapping two girls and sexually assaulting one of them in late 2017 was convicted in Austin Tuesday.

Published

6 years ago

on

February 12, 2019

By

SAN ANTONIO (Texas News Radio) — A Round Rock man accused of kidnapping two girls and sexually assaulting one of them in late 2017 was convicted in Austin Tuesday.

Federal prosecutors said jurors found 45-year-old Terry Miles guilty on two counts of kidnapping, one count of transporting a minor with intent to engage in sex with her, and one count of interstate travel with intent to engage in sex with a minor.

Miles will face between 20 years and life in federal prison when he is sentenced in April.

Round Rock police were called to the home of Tonya Bates to do a welfare check on December 30, 2017, when she did not show up for work as expected.

Police found Bates inside the home dead and her car missing. Investigators were able to determine that Miles, who lived in the home with her two daughters, may have kidnapped the children.

Prosecutors believe Miles killed Bates with a flashlight, but he was not charged in her murder.

Police were able to find one of the children’s cell phones in a wooded area next to a Wal-Mart store in Round Rock. Store security video shows Miles inside buying camping gear and then leaving in a car looking like the one belonging to Bates.

The other phone and the car were then traced going to Colorado. Miles was arrested in Las Animas County, Col., a few days later after an AMBER Alert was issued for the girls. The girls were found in Bates’ car, while Miles had taken.

During the trial, the 14-year-old girl detailed that Miles repeatedly had sex with her over a five-month period before being arrested.

That included before the kidnapping and before he even moved into the home.

The federal prosecutors said evidence found semen belonging to Miles in the underwear the girl was wearing when they were found.

“Today’s verdict represents justice for the child victims of Terry Miles,” said U.S. Attorney John Bash in a statement. “ Mandatory minimums have been criticized recently, but I am glad that federal law requires defendants to serve at least 20 years—and up to life in prison—for these sorts of heinous acts against children.”

“I am pleased with the guilty verdict against Terry Miles. I would like to thank the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the FBI and the men and women of the Round Rock Police Department and all our Law Enforcement partners who worked tirelessly on this case. Our prayers are that this verdict starts the healing process for the two victims,” Round Rock Police Chief Allen Banks.

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Austin

Sordid details discussed in Round Rock kidnapping trial

Published

6 years ago

on

January 30, 2019

By

SAN ANTONIO (Texas News Radio) — One of the two girls abducted from a Round Rock home in December 2017 testified against the man who took them, saying he killed their mother.

The man, 45-year-old Terry Miles, is on trial for abducting the two girls, but investigators have long suspected that he murdered their mother.

The Austin American-Statesman reported that the girl said her mother, Tonya Bates, had returned home from her nursing job on December 29, 2017, and started arguing with Miles.

Miles was living with them in the Round Rock house.

The girl testified that Miles told Bates the girl wanted to marry him, though the girl did not want that.

After pushing a glass shelf onto Miles, Bates and the man went into the kitchen where the girl said she saw Miles punch her mother.

The girl ended up going to her room. She testified that Miles went to her door to tell her something went very wrong.

The girl then testified she saw her mother’s body on the ground and her skull was caved in.

She stated in court Wednesday Miles told her not to call 911, saying the same thing would happen to her and her sister if they did.

The defense attorney then grilled the girl, who mostly responded to his questions with an “I don’t remember” on topics varying from whether her mother told them all to leave the house or telling a counselor that she did not feel endangered with Miles.

The defense argues Bates asked Miles to take the girls out of the house so she could go on a date.

The prosecutor says Miles was hired to be a nanny for the girls, got into an argument with Bates, killed her and then took the girls to Colorado.

The question about how Miles is exactly connected to Bates and the daughters became a bit clearer during testimony Wednesday.

The girl testified she met Miles that previous summer while she was at her father’s house in Louisiana. She said he sexually assaulted her the first day they met.

She was not of a legal age to consent to sex.

The girl said Miles sexually assaulted her once a day for roughly a month.

She then stated she asked her mother to start communicating with Miles on Facebook.

The girl continued communicating with Miles after she returned to her mother’s in Round Rock by text and through phone calls. She testified that she and Bates both wanted Miles in Round Rock because of an ongoing fight between Bates and her husband, the girl’s stepfather.

The girl did not mention in court whether she told her mother that Miles was sexually assaulting her.

Miles was indicted on two counts of kidnapping, one count of transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity and one count of travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct. He has not been charged in the death of Bates.

He could face decades to life in prison if convicted on those charges.

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