A woman arrested for collecting cash from a senior citizen as part of a widespread scam operation was sentenced Tuesday in Douglas County, Nevada.
Cindy Yaohua Guo, 43, received a 20- to 50-month prison sentence after being caught on Jan. 10 while retrieving money from a 79-year-old Gardnerville Ranchos resident.
Guo, speaking through a Mandarin interpreter, claimed she was misled into the role, saying she was promised $200 to drive another individual, Zhu Ping Ge, 39, from Los Angeles to Minden.
“I had no idea,” Guo said. “I was tricked into coming here.”
Her attorney, Justin Oakes, asked for a suspended sentence, arguing Guo was a small player caught in a larger operation.
However, Prosecutor Jim Sibley argued that Guo acted as a “cash mule” in a global scam network responsible for stealing $10 billion from U.S. citizens, often targeting the elderly.
He revealed that Douglas County has at least six similar cases, including one where a victim committed suicide after losing their life savings.
Judge Tod Young, citing the seriousness of the offense and its impact on vulnerable victims, handed down the prison sentence.
“I recognize you have no criminal history, but this crime reflects stealing from the most vulnerable portion of the population, the elderly,” the judge said.
Zhu Ping Ge, Guo’s passenger, is wanted on a warrant after posting $45,000 cash bail and then disappearing.
Guo is the second of six suspects arrested between September and May in related scams.
Minglong Chen, arrested in September 2024, received an 8- to 20-year sentence in July.
Junyan Wu (22) and Lirui Diao (21), both from California, were arrested in Genoa in May 2025 and face preliminary hearings on September 26.
Quan Fu Ma, 45, of San Francisco, is currently out on bail awaiting court proceedings.
Authorities continue to warn the public about the growing threat of elder fraud scams, which often involve online contact, emotional manipulation, and in-person cash pickups by unsuspecting intermediaries.
