Five Individuals Charged with Fraud Targeting Elderly Victims Throughout the United States

Carlos Rodriguez, Michael Marcov, Stephanie Marcov, and Cody Richey, all from Dubuque or surrounding areas, have been charged with wire fraud. The charges are contained in an Indictment filed today in United States District Court in Cedar Rapids. Another individual, Shawn Vaassen, has been charged in a separate Information with wire fraud relating to the same scheme.

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The Indictment and Information allege that, from December 2015 through September 2016, the defendants participated in a scheme to defraud people throughout the United States and that the fraud was primarily targeted towards the elderly. The charges allege that participants in the fraud would call a person on the phone and tell that person that a relative was in jail. The caller would then ask the victim to wire money via Western Union or Money Gram as bail money to get the relative released. The charges allege that the money was being wired to various participants in the fraud who would pick up the wire transfers and eventually the money would be sent overseas.

Rodriguez, Michael Marcov, and Vaassen are being held without bond. Stephanie Marcov remains released subject to conditions of release. Vaassen is scheduled to next appear in court on February 27, 2017, at 9:30 A.M. for a change of plea hearing. Rodriguez, Michael Marcov, and Stephanie Marcov will next appear in court for arraignment on February 9, 2017, at 2:00 P.M.

As with any criminal case, a charge is merely an accusation and a defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

The prosecution is part of the Elder Justice Initiative of the Department of Justice. In June 2016, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Iowa was selected as one of 10 districts in the nation to form an Elder Justice

Task Force (http://go.usa.gov/cSngj). The task force was assembled to foster a collaborative working relationship among all levels of government officials, advocacy groups for the elderly and the disabled, and others charged with the care and protection for these vulnerable groups. The goals include ensuring the integrity of all government expenditures by eliminating fraud, waste, and abuse in health programs, and protecting some of the state’s most vulnerable citizens from harm, whether it occurs in nursing homes or other institutions or involves financial fraud schemes. To learn more about the Department of Justice’s Elder Justice Initiative, visit: https://www.justice.gov/elderjustice/.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Anthony Morfitt and was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the Dubuque Police Department.

Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.

The case file numbers 17-CR-1001 and 17-CR-1004.

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