Four men from Georgia have been sentenced to federal prison for running a complex, multi-state fraud scheme that convinced victims they were facing arrest warrants unless they paid bogus bond fees. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa announced the sentences in a press release, stating the scam operated between March 2022 and April 2024 and targeted individuals in several states, including Iowa.
The defendants—Russell Tafron Weatherspoon, 26, Karl Andre Dieudonne, 23, Demonte Tequis Brazil, 32, and Gregory Lamar Scorza, 25—used spoofed caller IDs and impersonated law enforcement officers to falsely inform victims they had failed to appear in court, often as expert witnesses, and would be arrested unless they posted a cash bond. Victims were persuaded through legal terminology, fake subpoenas, and aggressive threats to make payments at designated locations, such as bond companies, under the belief they were resolving real legal issues.
Weatherspoon was the ringleader of the scheme and operated it from inside a Georgia state prison, where he was already serving time for a 2020 conviction related to aggravated assault and gang activity under Georgia’s Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act. Authorities revealed that contraband cellphones used in the scam were delivered to inmates via drones flown over prison grounds.
Weatherspoon was sentenced on April 9 to 130 months in federal prison, equivalent to nearly 11 years. Dieudonne and Brazil received sentences of 36 and 51 months, respectively, on May 13. Scorza was sentenced to 72 months on September 9. Each individual will serve an additional three years of supervised release following their incarceration. As federal inmates, none are eligible for parole.
Federal authorities confirmed that at least one other co-conspirator has been charged but remains at large. Victim restitution has been ordered, though the total amount owed was not disclosed.
The case involved coordination between several law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, Council Bluffs Police Department, Iowa City Police Department, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, Iowa State Patrol, Omaha Police Department, and Eppley Airport Police. The case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.
