Las Vegas, NV - Three men from Las Vegas have received their sentences for perpetrating a prize-notification scheme that stole more than $10 million from elderly and vulnerable victims.
Mario Castro, 55, was sentenced to 240 months in prison.
Miguel Castro, 58, was sentenced to 235 months in prison. Jose Luis Mendez, 49, was sentenced to 168 months in prison.
In April, a jury found the three men guilty of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and multiple individual counts of mail fraud.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, the three defendants and other co-conspirators printed and mailed millions of fraudulent prize notices that led their victims to believe that they could claim a large cash prize if they paid a fee of about $20 to $25. Those who paid the fees did not receive anything of value.
Once victims fell prey to the scheme, the defendants bombarded them with more fraudulent prize notices. The defendants produced the fake prize notices at their warehouse in Las Vegas. The defendants received millions of dollars of money from victims.
The men operated the scheme from 2010 to February 2018, when postal inspectors executed multiple search warrants and the Justice Department obtained a court order shutting down the operation. The trio all worked at the printing and mailing businesses that sent the fraudulent mail and shared the profits from the fraudulent prize notices.
The defendants and their co-conspirators ignored multiple cease and desist orders from the U.S. Postal Service that prohibited their mailing companies from sending fraudulent mail, responding to orders by changing the names of their companies and using straw owners to hide their continuing fraud.
Four others previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud in connection with this prize notice scheme: Patti Kern, 65, of Henderson; Andrea Burrow, 43, of Las Vegas; Edgar Del Rio, 45, of Las Vegas; and Sean O’Connor, 54, of Las Vegas.