4 Men Sentenced in Warrant Scam Targeting Women From Prison

Four men were sentenced to multiple years each in a scam that was run partly from a prison by pressuring women employed in the medical field to pay a bond and avoid arrest, federal prosecutors said on Thursday.

The prosecutors said that Russell Tafron Weatherspoon, 26, recruited the others to pose as law enforcement officers and target people across six states, including Iowa, from around March 2022 to April 2024, according to the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of Iowa.

To coordinate their fraudulent operation, Mr. Weatherspoon made phone calls from Calhoun State Prison, a medium-security facility in Morgan, Ga., where at least one drone had been used to drop cellphones into the yard for him and others to use, the prosecutors said.

Mr. Weatherspoon was in the prison after violating his probation for aggravated assault in 2018 for a robbery attempt. He was also convicted of other charges related to a 2020 episode where he fired a shot into an occupied home, the court records show.

The other men charged in the case were Karl Andre Dieudonne, 23; Demonte Tequis Brazil, 32; and Gregory Lamar Scorza, 25.

A lawyer listed in court documents for Mr. Brazil did not offer specific comment on the sentencing. Lawyers listed for the other men had not responded to requests for comment on Saturday.

The four men targeted women in the medical field who had testified under subpoena in court cases, the prosecutors said in court filings. The men would contact the women using spoofed numbers to appear as local law enforcement officers and tell them that there was a warrant for their arrest because they had failed to appear in court. Real names of local law enforcement officers were used, the prosecutors said.

The caller would tell the women targeted that they could pay a bond to avoid being arrested, and that the caller would stay on the line while they withdrew the money. Another person would then meet with the women to receive the cash, at times using the addresses of legitimate bond companies, the prosecutors said. In Iowa alone, the men collected about $66,000 from victims, according to court documents.

Similar cases were reported in California, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio and Tennessee, the prosecutors said.

Among the men, Mr. Brazil collected such payments in Council Bluffs, Harlan and Iowa City in Iowa, as well as in Memphis, Atlanta and Rochester, Minn. Mr. Scorza was connected to the scheme in California, Illinois, Iowa, Ohio, New Mexico and Minnesota, the prosecutors said.

Mr. Dieudonne procured the drone and was in charge of handling the proceeds, the prosecutors said.

The four men pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, according to court records. Mr. Dieudonne, Mr. Scorza and Mr. Weatherspoon had attended the same high school in Douglasville, Ga., the prosecutors said. Additionally, Mr. Scorza and Mr. Weatherspoon previously were convicted of crimes they carried out together, the prosecutors said.

One additional man, who was not named, has been charged in the conspiracy but not yet arrested.

Mr. Weatherspoon was sentenced to 10 years and eight months in federal prison, in addition to the time he was serving in Georgia. Mr. Scorza received a six-year sentence and Mr. Dieudonne was given three years. Mr. Brazil received four years and three months.

Mr. Weatherspoon is now held at Ware State Prison, a close-security facility in Waycross, Ga. Mr. Dieudonne is in a federal prison in Mississippi and Mr. Brazil is in a federal prison in Alabama. The whereabouts of Mr. Scorza were not specified in court documents.