Cedar Rapids woman charged with duping elderly couple in lottery scam

A 36-year-old Cedar Rapids woman was released with conditions last Friday in federal court after being charged for swindling an elderly couple out of $40,000 in a lottery tax scam.

Tea Lynette Ware was indicted on two counts of mail fraud, one count of using a fictitious name in mail fraud and one count of money laundering in U.S. District Court. The indictment states Ware called a 74-year-old woman in Bushnell, Ill., and told her she had won a lottery or sweepstakes and was going to receive large sums of money, but could only collect her winnings if she would first mail Ware the purported taxes or fees for payment.

Ware set up a post office box in the fictitious name of 'Ray Ware” to receive the money, the indictment shows. The scheme started in September 2015 and continued through February 2016. The indictment lists two checks - $16,000 and $13,000 - sent to Ware from the victims.

Typically, prosecutors don't include all transactions in an indictment or criminal complaint but there likely are more based on them asking the court for a $40,000 forfeiture, which could be tied to illegal activity.

No such winnings or funds existed, and the telephone calls were designed only to permanently deprive the woman, who has short-term memory problems, and her husband, a U.S. Navy veteran in a long-term care facility with dementia, of their money, according to the indictment.

The couple received unsolicited telephone calls, like many senior citizens, and even changed their telephone number to avoid unsolicited calls, but the calls resumed after they changed their phone number, the indictment shows.

If convicted on all charges, Ware faces up to 85 years in prison and a $2.75 million fine. Her trial is set June 27.