Investing.com -- A former U.S. Senate staffer was indicted on Thursday in connection with a scheme he allegedly concocted to defraud at least three elderly women of approximately $500,000 over the last eight years.
An indictment unsealed on Thursday in the Eastern District of Virginia charged Robert Lee Foster, 65, with nine counts of wire fraud. Foster, who spent more than three decades as a staffer with the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation shortly after moving to Washington D.C. in 1969, allegedly devised the scheme to fraudulently obtain money from the three women from a period beginning in 2008 through May, 2015. Foster retired from the position around January, 2010.
Foster allegedly used his status in the Senate to gain the trust and confidence of the victims persuading them to send money to his Senate Federal Credit Union account, which he subsequently used for his own personal benefit. The indictment alleges that Foster told the victims that he needed the money to cover legal and businesses expenses, which allegedly did not exist. In addition, Foster allegedly told the victims that he needed to borrow money after falsely claiming that his credit card was hacked.
The former staffer allegedly targeted the victims due to their age, health or marital status. During a six-month period from June through November, 2010, Foster allegedly obtained a sum of $9,300 in two wire transfers from a victim identified in the indictment as Person B. The victim, a 70-year old elderly woman from Denton, Tex. reportedly suffered a stroke and developed a speech impediment as a result of her complications.
Foster also allegedly targeted a 75-year old from the Washington D.C. area, identified as Person C, who was taking care of a partner suffering from dementia and a 54-year old widow from California, identified as Person A, whose husband of 25 years had recently passed away at the time of the alleged offenses. Foster allegedly obtained $500 in wire transfers from Person A during a four-month period in 2011 and $7,000 from Person C in a two-month span in the spring, 2014.
The case was investigated by the FBI and is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Eastern District of Virginia.