A Bronx “money mule” was sentenced to prison Tuesday for scamming elderly victims out of their life’s savings, including a now-deceased woman who needed money to pay for treatment for a heart condition.
Edward Rosario Canela, 48, was sentenced in a Hartford, Connecticut court to one year and one day in prison for conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud. According to CT Insider.
One man who was defrauded along with his sick wife had been saving carefully for years to have enough money for retirement and to leave for his children.
Part of the cash was also planned to be used to treat his wife’s heart condition.
One day in 2019, Rosario Canela called the couple pretending to be their grandson, and that’s when the couple lost everything.
“When we thought our grandson needed urgent help, we put his illness aside and gave all of our savings to you,” the victim said, according to court documents.
“Just a few months later… I lost my best friend, the mother of my children.”
Although the couple was already struggling to pay medical bills, they agreed to all of Rosario Canela’s requests.
All they wanted was to “spend as much time together as possible,” the man wrote, but helping his grandson was a priority.
“Not only did you take my wife and I’s savings, [sic] “And it is you who have robbed us of our peace of mind, but you have also personally contributed to the death of my wife,” the victim wrote.
When his wife died, Rosario Canela had to ask his family for help because she had taken so much of their property that they could not afford to pay for the funeral.
Rosario Canela called otherwise unsuspecting family members and convinced them to send cash to various addresses around Connecticut, primarily in Hartford.
According to court documents obtained by CT Insider, he worked with co-conspirators in the Dominican Republic, taking his share and sending the rest to the co-conspirators.
Similar scammers often use very specific details to convince victims to pay cash, making the situation seem plausible.
In another fraud case described in court documents, a Pennsylvania woman sent three installments of $37,400 to scammers, believing them to be an attorney and court clerk who were scheduled to represent her son in a drunk driving case.
Loacio Canela was released on bail and is required to report to prison on September 16th.
He was also ordered to pay $655,683 in restitution.
