Schenectady Woman Sentenced to 37 Months for Lottery Scam

ALBANY, NEW YORK – Kimberly Powell, age 38, of Schenectady, New York, was sentenced today to serve 37 months in prison for her participation in a Jamaica-based lottery scam that targeted elderly victims.

The announcement was made by United States Attorney Richard S. Hartunian and Shelly A. Binkowski, Inspector in Charge, United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), Boston Division.

United States District Judge Mae A. D’Agostino also sentenced Powell to a 3-year term of supervised release, to begin once she completes her prison term.

As part of her August 3, 2016 guilty plea to mail fraud charges, Powell admitted to working with her husband Jeragh Powell, and others, to mail false lottery prize notifications to mostly elderly people located throughout the United States. The fraudulent prize notification letters congratulated the victims on winning a recent drawing and instructed them to pay tens of thousands of dollars in “fees and taxes,” and “shipping and handling,” in order to receive their purported prize money and cars. Members of the conspiracy located in Jamaica also communicated with the victims by telephone, directing them to make payments to people in the United States.

Kimberly Powell and her husband Jeragh Powell, age 26 and a citizen of Jamaica, received more than $65,000 from victims of the scheme, and forwarded a large portion of the proceeds to Jeragh Powell’s associates in Jamaica. Jeragh Powell was prosecuted and also pled guilty to mail fraud. On January 31, 2017, Judge D’Agostino sentenced him to 41 months in prison.

This case was investigated by the USPIS, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the Schenectady Police Department, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey C. Coffman.