A Maryland woman used a phony sob story to con five people out of more than $1 million, and now she’s been sentenced to prison.
Nely Rider, 74, of Bowie, has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison, followed by three years supervised release, which will include nine months of home detention.
According to her plea agreement, Rider convinced five people that a woman in Mexico named Patricia was in danger and needed money to get to the U.S.
Rider claimed that once Patricia was safe in America, she would have access to money and pay the victims back.
But it was all a lie.
The victims gave Rider a total of $1.2 million.
Of the victims, some were elderly and lost their retirement savings.
Prosecutors say Rider used the money for her own personal benefit, spending some of it at casinos.
