Florida and New York men charged for alleged roles in scamming seniors out of $230,000+ in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Iowa

PROVIDENCE, RI – Two men have been arrested and charged in federal court for their alleged roles as couriers in grandparent scams that targeted seniors in multiple states including Rhode Island and Massachusetts, announced United States Attorney Zachary A. Cunha.

Roberto Munoz, 29, of Hialeah, FL, and Jason Rhodes, 34, of Flushing, New York, are charged by federal criminal complaint with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. They appeared before a federal Magistrate Judge on Friday and were released on unsecured bond and GPS electronic monitoring.

Grandparent scams often involve an elderly victim receiving a telephone call and being told that a family member, often a grandchild, needs bail because they have been arrested for committing a crime or causing a motor vehicle accident . Scammers identify themselves as a family member, an attorney, or a member of law enforcement, and direct victims to obtain cash and give it to a courier who will either arrive to pick up the money, or meet them at a specified drop-off location.

Couriers frequently operate in a particular geographical area, where they await instructions and victim information from other individuals participating in the scheme. It is alleged that in early March 2024, Munoz and Rhodes, operating as couriers, traveled to various locations in Rhode Island and Massachusetts and collected approximately $230,000 in payments from unsuspecting victims in more than a dozen communities.

Munoz and Rhodes were arrested by Warwick Police on March 8, 2024, as detectives were investigating the third complaint they had received in a single week from area residents, alleging that they had been contacted by, or had fallen victim to, scammers. It is alleged that, after one set of grandparent victims had already turned over $18,000 to a courier to cover what they were told was bail for their grandson, the grandparents were contacted again, were  told that their grandchild was now being sued for $100,000, and that a $40,000 payment was immediately required. At this point, recognizing that the demands were part of a scam, the grandparents contacted the Warwick Police Department, which set up surveillance inside and outside the grandparents’ home while waiting for the courier to return. Rhodes was arrested at the house when he allegedly arrived to collect the money; Munoz was arrested while sitting in a car near the home, allegedly waiting the return of Rhodes.

A court-authorized search of the vehicle and a nearby hotel room registered to Rhodes resulted in the seizure of more than $60,000 in cash and other items. A subsequent investigation by Warwick Police and Homeland Security Investigations determined that the defendants had allegedly been provided the names and addresses of grandparent scam victims in Coventry, Newport, Cranston, Hopkinton, West Greenwich, East Greenwich, and Smithfield, RI; in Stanhope, IA; and in Braintree, Hanover, Plymouth, Scituate, Cohasset, Stoughton, and Lakeville, MA.   A device allegedly seized from Rhodes at the time of his arrest contained chat messages sent to him by Munoz that appear to contain names and addresses of target victims and their grandchildren in Wisconsin, Illinois, Virginia, Kansas, Maryland, Tennessee, Iowa, North Carolina, and New Jersey.

The investigation remains ongoing, but, based upon local police reports it is believed that numerous families in Rhode Island and Massachusetts have been victimized.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Ly T. Chin.

The matter was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, with the assistance of the Newport, Cranston, Hopkinton, West Greenwich, Smithfield, and Coventry, RI Police Departments; Rhode Island State Police; the Braintree, Hanover, Plymouth, Scituate, Stoughton, Lakeville, and Northbridge, MA Police Departments; and the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department, IA.