Three Jamaican men who were recently arrested and charged with lottery scamming in the United States were allegedly using funds received from their victims to operate a car dealership in Kingston, Jamaica.
This is according to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania which announced that Caron Pitter, age 47, Rohan Lyttle, age 49, and Charlene Marshall, age 44, all from Jamaica were found guilty of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering on November 17.
In addition to the conspiracy charges against all defendants, Pitter was charged with several counts of mail fraud, and Lyttle was charged with multiple counts of mail fraud, wire fraud, and interstate transportation of goods taken by fraud. A fourth defendant, Rohan Lytle, Jr., age 26, was charged with some of the same offenses, and he remains a fugitive.
Over $1 million defrauded
According to court documents, the defendants received funds from victims of a Jamaican lottery scam between 2017 and 2020. An individual based in Jamaica posing as a representative of Publisher’s Clearing House used “lead lists” containing the names and personal information of elderly Americans to contact potential victims. These individuals were contacted by phone and email and falsely told that they had won multimillion-dollar prizes through Publisher’s Clearing House but needed to prepay taxes and other fees in order to claim their supposed prizes.
Money was sent through various channels including Zelle, MoneyGram, and Western Union. They also obtained debit cards for victims’ checking accounts and used those cards to make cash withdrawals at ATMs located in Jamaica.
Collectively, these victims lost over $1.1 million in connection with this fraud scheme, according to court documents.
Connections to Kingston dealership
Evidence at trial also showed that the defendants operated an auto body shop in Queens, New York known as Rocars Auto, and an affiliated used car dealership based in Kingston, Jamaica known as Rolcam Company Limited. The defendants used the proceeds of the lottery scam to purchase and repair salvage vehicles from online vehicle auctions and ship those vehicles to Rolcam Company Limited for sale to customers in Jamaica.
In one instance, a victim from Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, was told that he had won a new Range Rover, in addition to his cash prize. He was directed to pay for and ship over $15,000 in parts from a Land Rover car dealership to Rocars Auto in Queens, New York.
The defendants used these parts to repair a 2019 Land Rover that they purchased. After repairing the vehicle, they shipped it from Rocars Auto to Rolcam Company Limited in Kingston, Jamaica, where it was sold to an unidentified buyer believed to be associated with the lottery scam.
