PITTSBURGH — A warning about a money scam targeting local singles.
Chief Investigator Rick Earle talks to a local man who says he met someone on a dating site and became her victim.
Robert Stutzman, of Indiana County, claims he was conned by a woman he met on dating website.
Earle: Why did you do it?
Stutzman: I thought I was helping somebody, Rick.
After his wife had passed away, Stutzman went on a dating site and met a woman who said she was from South Carolina.
“I got lonely and just for companionship, and I got on this dating site and this girl got a hold of me, and that’s what started it,” Stutzman said.
She sent him provocative photos.
They texted and even talked on the phone for hours.
Earle: Did you think you were going to meet her at one point?
Stutzman: We were supposed to. We were supposed to meet up, and she had all these plans.
He said she eventually told him her father had died and she sold his jewelry store for $2.2 million.
But she suddenly had to go to Europe to visit her mother, and needed help paying off her dad’s associates, and she would send him a $45,000 check through UPS to deposit into an account.
Stutzman opened an account at a bank in Pittsburgh and had the money dispersed. The woman asked him to do it again.
This time, she sent a $42,000 check that Stutzman picked up at a drug store in Indiana County.
He opened an account at a bank in New Kensington, but state police showed up at his house. He was arrested and charged with receiving stolen property.
Police said the check wasn’t from a woman in South Carolina, but a man in Tyler County, West Virginia, who had been duped.
“I’m just as much a victim as the people that got robbed, and like I said, if I had any inkling of which, I wouldn’t have done any of it. I’m not. I ain’t a thief,” Stutzman said.
Stutzman was released from jail and agreed to cooperate with investigators.
Stutzman: The DA told my lawyer, if I come in and told them, they said they’d drop the charges.
Earle: And you did that? And he didn’t drop the charges?
Stutzman: No.
Earle: Why not?
Stutzman: I don’t know. They don’t tell you anything more than they have to.
11 investigates reached out to Indiana County District Attorney Robert Manzi.
“Due to the procedural posture of the case, I do not have any comment at this time,” Manzi wrote in an emailed statement to 11 Investigates.
Stutzman’s case comes at a time when law enforcement across the country is seeing an uptick in romance scams.
Just last year, the FBI’s Internet Crime Center received nearly 18,000 complaints that generated a staggering $672 million in losses.
Both the FBI and the Pennsylvania Attorney General have issued warnings.
“They are some of the most sad, horrific scams that we ever see,” Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday said.
Attorney General Dave Sunday wasn’t familiar with Stutzman’s case and wouldn’t comment, but said criminal charges are not out of the question, even for unsuspecting victims.
Earle: Somebody could face charges in a case like that?
Sunday: Someone could absolutely face charges. If you commit a criminal act at the behest of another individual, that’s still a criminal act.
In Stutzman’s case, the district attorney did agree to Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition, or ARD.
It’s a program for first-time offenders where the charges can ultimately be expunged.
Without the money to hire a private attorney to fight the charges, Stutzman reluctantly took the ARD.
Stutzman: I truly believed I was helping somebody, because I’m very trusting by nature.
Earle: You fell for this woman and you thought you were helping her out?
Stutzman: Right.
Earle: You didn’t realize you were doing something criminal?
Stutzman: She assured me there was nothing wrong and it was all legit. I took her word for it, and I’m paying for that.
After his wife died, Stutzman’s brother also passed away.
After the charges were filed, Stutzman said he lost his house and he suffered a heart attack.
Under the terms of the ARD, Stutzman will remain on probation for a year, and he must also pay approximately $1,500 in court fees and costs.
The DA did agree to waive the requirement of community service because of health issues.
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