A woman who told her online boyfriend that she needed money for medical expenses is accused of defrauding him of more than $1 million in 16 months so she could gamble more than 300 times in Oklahoma casinos.
They began dating after Lorraine Marie Rew, 46, from Fort Worth, Texas, met and befriended the New Palestine man on social media.
She allegedly deceived him into sending her approximately $1.2 million between October 2020 and February 2022, claiming she needed the funds for her daughter’s expensive surgery and medication as well as her own heart medication.
The 46-year-old allegedly told him she would reimburse him later and claimed she had to pay the costs in advance, using fake email accounts posing as her employer and assuring him the money would be forthcoming. To send her money, her partner utilized his personal IRA, mutual fund, checking and savings accounts, as well as cash advances and personal loans.
According to Hancock County Prosecutor Brent Eaton, she was arrested in Texas on November 16. Officers have charged her with one count of bribery and ten counts of forgery.
There was no record of Rew using the funds to pay for medical expenses, and neither she nor her daughter had accounts at the hospital.
She instead visited two casinos in Oklahoma, the Durant casino 167 times over the course of two years. Rew visited the other casino, Thackerville, 157 times over the course of six months.
Unfortunately, this is a situation in which the victim’s heart was in the right place, and the suspected criminal took advantage of that, as stated by prosecutor Eaton.
The 46-year-old is currently detained in the Tarrant County Jail in Texas, but she will be transferred to Hancock County to face her charges.
»46-year-old ‘fraudster’ accused of defrauding online boyfriend of $1.2million«