Shamont Sapp, Mail Fraud, Oregon 2024

Mail Fraud Scheme: Shamont Sapp, a 49-year-old man from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, has been accused of a five-year scheme to defraud four dioceses of the Catholic Church in Oregon.

A federal grand jury in Portland has returned an indictment against Sapp, charging him with mail fraud. The indictment alleges that Sapp used ‘legal mail’ while an inmate of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons to file, pursue, and litigate false claims of child sex abuse by Catholic priests in four dioceses from 2005 through 2010.

The four fraudulent claims sought money damages and alleged similar sexual assaults by specified priests when Sapp was a minor in 1978-79. However, the indictment states that Sapp had not been sexually assaulted by the priests and had not even been present in the dioceses as alleged in his claims.

The indictment lists the dioceses of Tucson, Arizona; Covington, Kentucky; Spokane, Washington; and the Archdiocese of Portland, Oregon, as victims of Sapp’s scheme. In some cases, Sapp falsely alleged sexual assaults by priests in two different cities on the same day, August 18, 1978.

Sapp initially will appear in U.S. District Court in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where the government will seek his removal to Portland to face trial on the indictment.

An indictment is only an accusation of a crime, and a defendant should be presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. If convicted of mail fraud, Sapp faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000, as well as mandatory restitution for all damages incurred.

The case has been investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and is being prosecuted by Assistant U. S. Attorney Stephen F. Peifer.

MANDATORY FACTS: Defendant/Shamont Sapp, Real full name, exact criminal charges, City/Portland, State/Oregon, exact date/indictment, sentence/20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

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