Roberto Gutierrez, Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud, Pennsylvania 2024

A California man was sentenced to 46 months in prison for his role in a international fraud scheme targeting elderly victims in Western Pennsylvania and elsewhere.

Roberto Gutierrez, 51, was sentenced in federal court on January 23, 2024, for his conviction of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, announced United States Attorney Eric G. Olshan.

According to information presented to the court, Gutierrez was a participant in a scheme to defraud elderly victims. He and others posed as attorneys, calling numerous victims and falsely representing that one of the victim’s relatives, typically a grandchild, had been incarcerated and needed money for bail and legal fees.

Gutierrez would then visit the victims at their homes, posing as a courier or bail bondsman to collect the fraudulently obtained money. At least $250,000 was obtained through the conspiracy.

The scheme targeted elderly victims in the Western District of Pennsylvania and elsewhere, with two co-defendants, Roderick Feurtado and Tarek Bouanane, both of Las Vegas, Nevada, previously sentenced for their roles in the case.

Roderick Feurtado received a sentence of ten years and Tarek Bouanane received 46 months, each followed by three years of supervised release, along with restitution totaling $258,520 to 16 victims.

United States Attorney Olshan commended the United States Department of Homeland Security Investigations, Pennsylvania State Police, and Bethel Park Police Department for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of the three individuals.

Anyone with information about allegations of elder fraud can report it by calling the National Elder Fraud Hotline at 1-833-FRAUD-11 or 833–372–8311. More information about the government’s efforts to help American seniors is available at its Elder Justice Initiative at https://www.justice.gov/elderjustice.

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