By james art 
PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island – Two men have been arrested and charged in federal court for their alleged role as couriers in grandparent scams targeting seniors in multiple states, including Rhode Island and Massachusetts, U.S. Attorney Zachary A. Cunha said.
Roberto Munoz, 29, of Hialeah, Florida, and Jason Rhodes, 34, of Flushing, New York, are charged in a federal criminal complaint with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. They appeared before a federal magistrate Friday and were released on unsecured bail and GPS electronic monitoring.
Grandparent scams often involve an elderly victim receiving a phone call and being told that a family member, often a grandchild, needs bail because they have been arrested for committing a crime or causing a motor vehicle accident. Scammers identify themselves as a family member, lawyer, or member of law enforcement and direct victims to receive money and give it to a courier who will either arrive to pick up the money or meet them at a designated drop-off location.
Couriers often operate in a specific geographic area where they expect instructions and information about victims from others involved in the scheme. In early March 2024, Munoz and Rhodes, working as couriers, allegedly traveled to various locations in Rhode Island and Massachusetts and collected approximately $230,000 in payments from unsuspecting victims in more than a dozen communities.
Munoz and Rhodes were arrested by Warwick police on March 8, 2024, as detectives investigated the third complaint they had received in a week from area residents alleging they had been contacted or fallen victim to scammers . It is alleged that after one group of grandparent victims had already handed over $18,000 to a courier to cover what they were told was a guarantee for their grandson, the grandparents were contacted again, told that their grandson is now being sued for $100,000 and that a payment of $40,000 is required immediately. At this point, realizing the demands are part of a scam, the grandparents contact the Warwick Police Department, who establish surveillance inside and outside the home of the grandparents while they wait for the courier to return. Rhodes was arrested at the house when he allegedly arrived to collect the money; Munoz was arrested while sitting in a car near the home, allegedly waiting for Rhodes to return.
A court-authorized search of the vehicle and a nearby hotel room registered to Rhodes led to the seizure of more than $60,000 in cash and other items. A subsequent investigation by Warwick Police and Homeland Security Investigations found that the defendants were allegedly provided with the names and addresses of grandparent fraud victims in Coventry, Newport, Cranston, Hopkinton, West Greenwich, East Greenwich and Smithfield , Rhode Island; in Stanhope, IA; and in Braintree, Hanover, Plymouth, Scituate, Cohasset, Stoughton and Lakeville, Massachusetts. A device allegedly seized from Rhodes at the time of his arrest contained chat messages sent to him by Munoz that appeared to contain names and addresses of the targeted victims and their grandchildren in Wisconsin, Illinois, Virginia, Kansas, Maryland , Tennessee, Iowa, North Carolina and New Jersey.
The investigation is ongoing, but based on local police reports, many families in Rhode Island and Massachusetts are believed to have been victims.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Lee T. Chin.
The matter was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations with the assistance of the police departments of Newport, Cranston, Hopkinton, West Greenwich, Smithfield and Coventry, Area; Rhode Island State Police; the police departments of Braintree, Hanover, Plymouth, Scituate, Stoughton, Lakeville and Northbridge, Massachusetts; and the Hamilton County, Iowa Sheriff’s Department.