Hartford Man Sentenced For Bilking The Elderly In Wisconsin: Feds

HARTFORD, CT/MADISON, WISC. — A Hartford man will spend the next few years in prison for his role in bilking elderly residents in Wisconsin out of some $250,000 total.

Timothy M. O’Shea, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, said Dec. 16 that Matthew Ramos-Soto, 27, Hartford, Conn., was sentenced that day to 41 months in federal prison for his role in a wire fraud scheme targeting elderly victims.

Ramos-Soto pled guilty to the charge on April 4 and he was also ordered to pay restitution, O'Shea said.

O'Shea said Ramos-Soto was part of a network of individuals perpetrating related grandparent schemes across the United States.

Co-conspirators operating outside the United States called elderly victims posing as a relative or relative’s attorney, he said.

"Victims were told that their relative had been arrested for causing an accident that severely injured or killed another person," O'Shea said. "Victims were asked to provide bail money in cash so their relative could be released immediately."

Once victims obtained the funds, a courier posing as a bail bondsman picked up the funds from the victims’ residences, O'Shea said.

Officials said Ramos-Soto was one of the couriers posing as a bail bondsman.

Between Oct, 24, 2022, and Oct. 28, 2022, Ramos-Soto and the other couriers picked up more than $250,000 from victims throughout Wisconsin.

Law enforcement was able to identify Ramos-Soto and he was ultimately arrested attempting to pick up money from a victim in Ottawa County, Michigan, on June 28, 2023.

A subsequent search of Ramos-Soto’s cellphone data showed from Oct. 11, 2022, through his arrest, he picked up money from victims in 18 different locations around the United States.

Additional federal cases against this fraud network have been brought in Vermont, Rhode Island, California, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Kentucky.

For more information and the full U.S. Attorney's Office announcement, click on this link.