South Windsor Man Gets Prison Term For Defrauding Grandparents

HARTFORD, CT — A federal judge sentenced a South Windsor resident to prison Thursday, after he pleaded guilty to a wire fraud charge in connection with a scheme in which he stole nearly $680,000 from his grandparents.

Douglas Senerth, 33, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Robert N. Chatigny in Hartford to 18 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release. Chatigny also ordered Senerth to serve the first six months of his supervised release in home confinement., according to Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut.

According to court documents and statements made in court, between 2011 and 2019, Senerth defrauded his grandmother and his late grandfather by falsely claiming to be a college student and inducing them to give him about $419,000 to pay for nonexistent college tuition and other related expenses, and an additional $260,000 by falsely claiming that he would invest their money into an investment fund run by one of his nonexistent professors, according to Avery.

As part of the scheme, Senerth created fraudulent college transcripts, letters and email accounts that he used to corroborate his lies. Chatigny ordered Senerth to pay restitution of $679,944, according to Avery.

Senerth has been detained in state custody since Feb. 10, 2021, when he was arrested on unrelated charges. On Feb. 23, 2022, he pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of wire fraud. His state case is pending, and his federal sentence will begin when the state case is resolved, Avery said.