A resident of Ellenwood, Georgia, has been sentenced in federal court to two years of imprisonment on his conviction of conspiring and travelling interstate to commit extortion.
United States District Judge William S. Stickman IV imposed the sentence on Richard W. Long, 50.
According to information presented to the Court, in July of 2022, Long participated in a conspiracy to extort money from victims in Western Pennsylvania.
Conspirators who had access to cell phones while incarcerated in a Georgia prison called victims and falsely represented themselves as sheriff’s deputies who had arrest warrants for the victims.
Victims were told that these warrants were the result of their purported failure to appear for a court hearing pursuant to a subpoena that had supposedly been served on them.
The callers convinced victims that, to avoid arrest, they needed to appear at bail bond agencies in Pittsburgh, where victims then paid cash “bonds” or “fines” to Long when he met them in the parking lot.
Three victims paid a total of approximately $39,750 to Long and his co-conspirators.
Prior to imposing sentence, Judge Stickman spoke to the “reprehensible” conduct of the conspirators, noting that they specifically targeted good, hard-working citizens to get their money.
