Las Vegas woman pleads guilty in prize scam involving millions

Yahoo

29-04-2025

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A woman pleaded guilty Monday to producing mailings as part of a scheme that defrauded thousands of Americans, many of them elderly, prosecutors said.
Barbara Trickle, 80, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, documents said.
In 2023, federal prosecutors accused Trickle and two others of mailing millions of phony prize notices from 2012 to 2018. The mailer indicated that the person would receive a large cash prize if they paid a fee between $20 and $50, documents said.
'[Trickle] was the owner and operator of a printing and mailing business that produced the fraudulent prize notice mailings for the scheme,' documents said. 'Trickle supervised the lasering, printing, and mailing of the fraudulent prize notices. She also directed her employees to analyze victim response data in furtherance of the scheme. Trickle was paid by her co-conspirators for these services.'
The loss to victims totaled about $15.5 million, prosecutors said, adding many were 'elderly and vulnerable.'
It was not immediately clear how much prison time, if any, Trickle would face at sentencing. The charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a minimum fine of $250,000, prosecutors said in 2023.
The government runs a National Elder Fraud Hotline at 1-833-FRAUD-11.
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