Juan Rafael Parra Arias, Grandparent Scam, New Jersey 2023

GRIMY TIMES EXCLUSIVE

Millions Stolen from Elderly Americans in Despicable ‘Grandparent Scam’

Three residents of Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic, were extradited to the United States last week and made their initial appearance in Newark federal court yesterday on charges relating to their participation in a sprawling “grandparent scam” that defrauded elderly Americans out of millions of dollars.

Juan Rafael Parra Arias, also known as Yofre, 41; Miguel Angel Vasquez, also known as Miguel Disla, 24; and Jose Ismael Dilone Rodriguez, 34, are among 11 Dominican Nationals charged in a 19-count indictment filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey and unsealed on April 29. Following their initial appearance yesterday, the court ordered the three men detained pending trial. The extradition of Parra Arias, Vasquez and Dilone Rodriguez follows that of their co-conspirators Rafael Ambiorix Rodriguez Guzman, also known as Max Morgan, 59, and Felix Samuel Reynoso Ventura, also known as Fili and Filly the Kid, 37, who appeared in Newark federal court on July 22 to answer the indictment.

According to the indictment, Parra Arias, Vasquez, Dilone Rodriguez and their co-conspirators engaged in a long-running “grandparent” or “family in need of bail” scam against hundreds of seniors across the United States, including in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts. Parra Arias is alleged to have led a network of call centers in Santiago, Dominican Republic, while Vasquez and Dilone Rodriguez worked in these centers to recruit co-conspirators in the United States.

As detailed in court filings, members of the conspiracy referred to as “openers” called elderly victims in the United States and impersonated the victims’ children, grandchildren or other close relatives. The call centers used technology to make it appear that the calls were coming from inside the United States. Typically, the victim was told that their grandchild had been in a car accident, was arrested in connection with an accident, and needed help.

Once openers tricked victims into believing their loved ones were in dire trouble, others working at the call centers, known as “closers,” allegedly impersonated defense attorneys, police officers or court personnel and convinced victims to provide thousands of dollars in cash to help their loved ones. The cash was typically retrieved by couriers — including those recruited and dispatched by Parra Arias, Vasquez, and Dilone Rodriguez — from the victims’ homes, or mailed by victims at the direction of the closers.

“The Justice Department’s Consumer Protection Branch and its law enforcement partners will vigorously pursue criminals who defraud victims through so-called ‘grandparent scams,’” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “We will continue to identify perpetrators of these schemes and prioritize the pursuit of those who deliberately target vulnerable Americans from abroad. We thank the government of the Dominican Republic for extraditing these defendants to the United States to face charges.”

“As alleged, these three defendants played a role in a scheme that relied on the love and devotion of elderly victims in order to cheat them out of millions of dollars,” said U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger for the District of New Jersey. “In this ‘grandparents’ scam,’ some of the defendants allegedly impersonated grandchildren in distress, claiming, for example, they had been arrested after a car accident involving a pregnant woman who later miscarried, and they needed immediate cash for bail or a lawyer. Conspirators like Parra Arias, Vasquez and Dilone Rodriguez allegedly operated the call centers or dispatched couriers to pick up money from the victims. My office is committed to protecting the rights of all victims, and we will relentlessly prosecute those who allegedly target vulnerable seniors to steal their hard-earned savings.”

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