Judge: The guideline is 37 to 46 months.
Assistant US Attorney: The victims were vulnerable senior citizens. Some were promised marriage; they sent and lost money. Middlemen received 10%.
AUSA: Defendant participated in this scheme fir six years. 32 victims lost $1.4 million. Meanwhile Ms. Montrage reinvented herself in Ghana.
Judge: She blames an abusive former boyfriend.
AUSA: He was arrested and deported. She continued. One victim confronted her…
Judge: She will be deported.
Defense lawyer: 3 months incarceration would be enough. She didn’t know the money going into her account was from romance fraud.
Judge: She created multiple bank accounts.
Defense: She’s never before disclosed her abuse by her ex boyfriend.
Montrage: I want to pay them back. I feel shame as a mother of an 8 year-old daughter. [Sobs] Please have mercy on me.
AUSA: She started opening these accounts at different banks at an earlier time. Many in Ghana are following this case. General deterrence is needed
Defense: Victim-1 tracked her from her instagram photos – her video had a voice dubbed over, Victim-1 was catfished
Judge: I sentence Ms Montrage to one year and one day in prison, the extra day to allow “good time.”
Defense: We propose she be allowed to fly back to Ghana as soon as she is released, with no ICE detention
AUSA: We consent
Adjourned
Source: Inner city Press
