(KXNT) - A federal grand jury in Las Vegas returned an indictment this week charging three individuals with operating a mail fraud scheme that defrauded thousands of U.S. victims, many of whom were elderly and vulnerable.
According to court documents, Kimberly Stamps, 46, of Gilbert, Arizona; John Kyle Muller, 56, of Boulder, Colorado; and Barbara Trickle, 78, of Las Vegas, conspired to operate a fraudulent mass-mailing scheme that deceived thousands of consumers into paying fees for falsely promised prizes.
The indictment alleges that, from 2012 to 2018, the defendants mailed millions of prize notices that led victims to believe they were specially chosen to receive a large cash prize and would receive the prize if they paid a small fee. Victims who paid the requested fee, however, did not receive the promised cash prize.
Although the notices appeared to be personalized correspondence, they were merely mass-produced form letters that were bulk-mailed to recipients whose names and addresses appeared on mailing lists purchased and rented by the defendants.
The indictment alleges that Stamps and Muller selected and edited the prize-notice mailings, set the mailing schedules, and collected and processed victim payments. Trickle – aware of the deceptive nature of the mailings and that victims were in fact deceived – produced the physical mailings, mailed them out, and assisted with managing the data that Stamps and Muller used to target consumers for repeated victimization.
According to the indictment, Stamps, Muller, and Trickle continued to operate their fraudulent mass-mailing scheme in violation of a United States Postal Service cease-and-desist agreement and consent order reached in 2012. The agreement and order had permanently barred Stamps and anyone working with her from mailing fraudulent prize notices.
Each charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a minimum fine of $250,000.