Skip to content
News
Link copied to clipboard

Con artist gets 15 to 30 years for Chesco scam

An international con artist who stole $260,000 from an elderly East Caln man was sentenced to 15 to 30 years in prison Friday.

An international con artist who stole $260,000 from an elderly East Caln man was sentenced to 15 to 30 years in prison Friday.

Jack Mayer, a 43-year-old Italian who says he is a French citizen, stole nearly a half-million dollars from elderly Americans in 2010 through a complex scheme that convinced victims they had won $3.5 million in a sweepstakes.

After running the racket with Costa Rican conspirators, fleeing England as a fugitive, and being arrested in the Dominican Republic, Mayer was convicted and sentenced in Chester County more than three years after the scam began.

The "con artist will be prevented from preying upon the innocent for a very, very long time," said Assistant District Attorney Alexander Gosfield.

Mayer was also ordered to pay restitution to the Chester County man.

Working with a criminal organization in Costa Rica, Mayer and his conspirators swindled seniors in Pennsylvania, Texas, Arizona, Indiana, North Carolina, and Georgia, according to a sentencing memo written by Gosfield.

He was convicted in September on 22 charges, including theft by deception, corrupt organizations, and conspiracy. He has been in the Chester County Prison since February.

At trial, Mayer pleaded not guilty and maintained that he did not know that the money received was illegal funds.

Mayer's attorney, Joshua Janis, said Tuesday he was hoping for a fair sentencing.

"I think, realistically, if the D.A. wasn't trying to make a show out of this, the average person with this kind of theft and no criminal history would be looking at anywhere from nine to 16 months on each count. . . . Up to five years would be a fair sentence for something like this."

No charges were filed against Mayer in any other states or federally, though a warrant for his arrest was issued in North Carolina, Gosfield said. Mayer does not have any prior convictions here.

"You can run and you can hide, but if you victimize the citizens of Chester County, justice will find you," Gosfield said Friday.

The East Caln man targeted by Mayer's scam was 83 at the time. He wired a total of $262,035, in six increments, to a bank account Mayer set up for laundering the money made by the scam, the memo said. The man believed he was paying fees and taxes on his sweepstakes winnings before receiving the prize.

When he tried to make a seventh transaction of more than $200,000, employees at his bank suspected fraud. They contacted Downingtown police, who filed charges against Mayer, Gosfield said.