A federal grand jury in Pittsburgh has indicted four individuals on charges of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering, Acting United States Attorney Troy Rivetti announced Monday.
Defendant Yonel Burnett, 28, of Jamaica, was charged in a two-count indictment with conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering. Defendants Omar McKenzie, 34, of Lauderdale Lakes, Florida; Shemeca Shields, 29, of East Hartford, Connecticut; and Nicole Lamont, 30, of Eastham, Massachusetts, each were charged in a one-count indictment with conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Burnett and McKenzie were arrested in Florida on March 14 and March 27, 2025, respectively. Lamont was arrested in Massachusetts on March 23, 2025. Shields was arrested in Connecticut on March 26, 2025.
The indictments are related to those announced in December 2023, naming seven other co-conspirators, three of whom were extradited from Jamaica.
According to the Indictments, the defendants and their co-conspirators executed a fraud scheme that stole more than $4.5 million from elderly and vulnerable victims in the Western District of Pennsylvania and elsewhere in the United States.
As part of that scheme, conspirators, including Burnett, contacted the victims and falsely told them they had won a million- or multi-million-dollar sweepstakes but needed to pay certain taxes and fees before claiming their prize.
These claims were often reinforced with forged documents purporting to describe the sweepstakes winnings and required taxes and fees, some of which bore the seals of government agencies.
The conspirators then directed the victims to send money, including cash, checks, and money orders, to people designated by the conspirators. Some of these people were earlier victims of the lottery scam who had been unwittingly fooled into accepting and moving money on behalf of the members of the conspiracy.
Others, including McKenzie, Lamont, and Shields, were themselves members of the conspiracy. After being laundered through a network of bank accounts and money mules, the victim’s money was withdrawn by members of the conspiracy living in Jamaica.
The law provides for a maximum total sentence of up to 20 years in prison, a fine of up to twice the pecuniary loss to any victim, or both. Under the federal Sentencing Guidelines, the actual sentence imposed would be based upon the seriousness of the offense(s) and the defendant’s prior criminal history, if any.
Assistant United States Attorney Jeffrey R. Bengel is prosecuting this case on behalf of the government.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, United States Postal Inspection Service, and Homeland Security Investigations conducted the investigation leading to the Indictments.
The charges stem from the Department of Justice’s wide-ranging efforts to protect older adults from fraud and financial exploitation.
Last week, for example, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania also announced the Indictment of a Dominican Republic man living in Cleveland, Ohio, for his participation in an organized crime group operating across Pennsylvania and Ohio to defraud victims out of tens of thousands of dollars through a grandparent fraud scam.
As part of that scheme, scammers called a grandparent and impersonated their grandchild in a crisis such as an accident or arrest, and then asked the grandparent to send immediate financial assistance, which conspirators arranged to be picked up in Pennsylvania and delivered by Lyft and Uber drivers to the defendant in various locations in Northern Ohio.
An indictment is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
