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Two men have been indicted in McAllen federal court over allegations that they defrauded four women they conned into online romantic relationships out of nearly $300,000.
Ramon Esparza and Jeffrey Lee Moore are facing a 34-count indictment that has 29 counts of mail fraud, two counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit laundering of monetary instruments and one count of laundering of monetary instruments.
Esparza is charged with all of the counts while Moore is charged with two counts of mail fraud, two counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit laundering of monetary instruments and one count of laundering of monetary instruments.
They were indicted on Tuesday and the charging document was unsealed Friday when they made their first appearances.
The indictment names four victims: J.S., a 76-year-old woman; M.A., a 75-year-old woman; T.B., a 61-year-old woman; and P.D., a 60-year-old woman.
J.S. joined a dating website called www.ourtime.com and met a person claiming to be “Michael Cole,” according to the indictment, which said they entered into an online romantic relationship in 2018.
Eventually, “Cole” began requesting currency from J.S., including loans for “Cole’s” purported responsibility of buying food for an offshore oil rig. “Cole” directed J.S. to send payments to Esparza, according to federal prosecutors.
In all, the indictment alleges J.S. was conned out of $39,347.95.
M.A. fell victim to the alleged fraud when someone claiming to be “Lionel Richie” contacted her on Google Hangouts.
M.A. entered into an online romantic relationship with “Richie” in 2020, according to the indictment.
Prosecutors allege “Richie” began requesting funds to buy a home so that he and M.A. could get married and move into it. “Richie” directed M.A. to pay Esparza.
In all, the indictment alleges that M.A. was bilked out of a total of $32,640.
The third woman, T.B., joined the dating website www.plentyoffish.com and met someone claiming to be “Larry Jones.”
In 2019, they too entered into an online romantic relationship and “Jones” began asking for currency for work expenses, funds which were sent to Esparza, according to the indictment.
T.B. shelled out a total of $43,950 during the alleged scheme.
Lastly, there is P.D., who met a “Robert Abrams” over the phone in 2018. Once again, the requests for currency began with “Abrams” asking for money for various reasons, including for assisting with injuries related to his purported military service, according to the indictment.
“Abrams” directed P.D. to send the payments to Esparza, according to federal prosecutors.
In all, the indictment alleges P.D. lost a total of $172,060.
All four women were allegedly defrauded out of a total of $287,997.95.
As for Moore, the indictment alleges that Esparza directed him to assist in transferring the payments.
Federal authorities arrested the men on Wednesday. Moore was taken into custody in Mission while Esparza was arrested in Donna.
