ng has
ng has gone mainstream may be an
understatement. Nearly one-in-three Americans have
gone online to find a partner.
A Utah woman thought she
found love.. through a dating
site. She did not.
And as KSL Investigator Matt
Gephardt explains.. what she
did for love.. could land her
in jail.
Suffering heartbreak,
compromising your identity or
losing money because of a
scammer are already tough
consequences, but it can get
far worse. Some romance
scams can ruin you financially
and leave you "jailed for
love."
:10-:172:52-2:58
love." :10-:172:52-2:58 Christina Ott thought she
found the man of her dreams on
a dating website. Just
divorced, she liked what she
was hearing from him.
CHRISTINA OTT"YOU START
OPENING UP YOURSELF TO
SOMEBODY AND ALLOWING SOMEBODY
ELSE’S LIFE INTO YOURS."
While never meeting in person
- through constant emails,
texts and phone calls,
Christina says she fell in
love. CHRISTINA: "HE SAID HE
WAS TOO BUT YEAH." MATT:
"REALLY, YOU FELT IN LOVE?"
CHRISTINA: "I WAS, I WAS IN
LOVE - ABSOLUTELY. WHICH YOU
KNOW, I NEVER THAT COULD
HAPPEN. RIGHT?" Before
long, they started talking
about their future. He
told Christina he wanted to
start a business. CHRISTINA OTT
"’IT’S MY RETIREMENT. I LIVE
IN UTAH, LET’S OPEN A
RESTAURANT IN DOWNTOWN SALT
LAKE.’ I’M LIKE, THAT’S
GREAT." From here, the
relationship became much more
financial... CHRISTINA SLAMS
BIN ON THE GROUND SO, I SAVED
EVERYTHING.... Christina
says her boyfriend had
investors lined up. So she
opened bank accounts, and
began taking deposits.
And she says at his direction,
wired money to pay for a
building and restaurant
equipment - or so she thought.
CHRISTINA TO MATT: "OH WE HAD
TO WRITE A CHECK TO OPEN THE
ACCOUNT." Christina showed
us the huge amount of checks
and wires that passed through
her accounts... $3 or 4-
thousand here...
$14-thousand there... Even
amounts as $50-g up to:
CHRISTINA: MAYBE A MILLION.
GEP: YOU HAD A MILLION DOLLARS
GO THROUGH YOUR BANK ACCOUNT?
THINK. YEAH." Christina
says the partnership - both
financial and romantic -
dissolved quickly when she
expressed frustration.
CHRISTINA OTT"I SAID, LOOK,
I’VE WAITED LONG ENOUGH FOR
YOU TO BE IN TOWN. I GET COVID
AND ALL OF THAT. BUT YOU NEED
TO BE HERE. I’M NOT SENDING
ANYTHING ELSE OUT UNTIL YOU’RE
HERE WITH ME" Here, he
falls silent. It’s also
where Christina says she
realized she had been duped.
Month’s later, she was
visiting her nephew on a
military base for Christmas.
The police were called - and
she was taken away, "IN FRONT
OF MY KIDS, MY GRANDCHILD."
Christina spent three nights
in jail before she was able to
bail out. Authorities
arrested her on a warrant out
of Powell County, Kentucky.
STANDUP: THE KSL INVESTIGATORS
REACHED OUT TO KENTUCKY
PROSECUTORS. THEY HAVEN’T
RETURNED OUR CALLS. BUT IN
COURT RECORDS, WE CAN SEE THAT
THE CHARGES ARE SERIOUS.
She faces a felony charge of
"Theft by Unlawful Taking."
Prosecutors in Kentucky are
accusing her of taking over 46-
thousand-dollars from a bank.
If convicted, she faces five
to ten years in prison and a
92-thousand-500 dollar fine.
And even if Cristina didn’t
know what she was doing, the
charge could stick, says FBI
special agent Drew Scown.
DREW SCOWN / FBI"IF THERE’S
ENOUGH WARNING SIGNS THERE,
THAT A REASONABLE PERSON
SHOULD HAVE, YOU KNOW, FIGURED
OUT, HEY, SOMETHING’S NOT
RIGHT HERE, THEN THEN
ABSOLUTELY, THAT PERSON COULD
BE ON THE HOOK FOR, FOR
LAUNDERING THAT MONEY."
Scown couldn’t get into
specifics of Cristina’s case
but tells me she is far from
alone getting duped by a lying
lover Well over 23-
thousand 23,751 Americans lost
over 600-million-dollars to
romance scammers and con
artists in 20-20. That
includes 296 Utahns who lost
over 6-million in total.
6,036,574 Scown says many
romance scammers trick their
victims into not-necessarily
sending their own money - but
rather acting like a money
mule. DREW SCOWN"THEY’RE
BASICALLY USED BY THESE
CRIMINAL ORGANIZATIONS TO MOVE
FUNDS FROM ONE PLACE TO
ANOTHER, TO BOTH HIDE THE WHO
THE CRIMINAL ORGANIZATION IS,
AND ALSO TO MAKE IT HARDER FOR
LAW ENFORCEMENT TO TRACE THOSE
ILLEGAL FUNDS." CHRISTINA OTT
"I’M WAITING, WAITING FOR THE
OTHER SHOE TO DROP." As
for Christina, she insists she
thought she was opening a
restaurant with a man whom she
loved. She’s embarrassed -
and she’s scared. CHRISTINA
OTT: I DON’T WANT IT TO HAPPEN
TO ANYBODY. IT’S TOTALLY
DESTROYING MY LIFE AND MY
FUTURE."
And some late news...
While the prosecutors in
Kentucky still have not
responded to us, Christina
says they have come back to
her with a plea deal. The
offer drops the felony charge
and spares her jail time, if
she pays 5-thousand dollars.
She says she’s considering
taking it.
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