*** Update to Previous Press Release ***

Press Release from United States Attorney Beth Drake in the District of South Carolina

February 13, 2018

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Follow us on Twitter: @USAO_SC

CONTACT PERSON: Winston David Holliday, Jr.
Assistant U.S. Attorney
winston.holliday@usdoj.gov
(803) 920-6097

Georgia Prisoner Pleads Guilty to Phone Scam

Columbia, South Carolina ---- United States Attorney Beth Drake stated today that Jay Byron Wright, age 42, of the Calhoun State Prison in Morgan, Georgia, pled guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud, a violation of Title 18, United States Code, § 1349. Judge Mary Geiger Lewis accepted the plea and will sentence Wright at a later date.

Evidence presented at the hearing established that Jay Byron Wright and other prisoners called citizens of Oregon using a cell phone smuggled into their prison, told the Oregonians they were in contempt of court for not showing up for jury duty, and that they owed the court money. The Oregonians could pay this money by obtaining Money Pak Green Dot cards for the specified value and providing the numbers on the cards to the callers. The numbers gave the callers access to the value on the card, which could then be transferred onto other Green Dot cards. At least three people in Oregon fell for this scam, and they transferred values slightly less than $1,000 to cards used by various co-conspirators in South Carolina.
The maximum penalty faced by Wright is imprisonment for twenty years, with a potential fine up to $250,000.

The Deschutes County (Oregon) Sheriff's Office and SLED (South Carolina) investigated the case. Assistant United States Attorney Winston David Holliday, Jr., of the Columbia office is prosecuting the case.

End of Update
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From late 2015 through early 2017, the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office has been investigating reports of various telephone scams targeting Deschutes County citizens. Since then, Deschutes County Sheriff's Office Detectives followed many investigative leads around the country and presented their findings to the United States Attorney's Office in Columbia, South Carolina. Today, the United States Attorney's Office and a Deschutes County Sheriff's Office Detective obtained a Federal Criminal Indictment charging:

Jay Baron Wright, Sr., 42, an inmate at the Calhoun State Prison (GA)
Christine Wright, 24, of Windsor, South Carolina
Barbara Lynn Clayton, 43 of Windsor, South Carolina

With Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1349).

It is believed that Jay Baron Wright, Sr., and possibly another Georgia prison inmates allegedly used contraband cellular telephones from inside Jimmy Autry State Prison (Pelham, GA) to access Internet websites to identify the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of potential fraud victims. Using the cellular telephones, the inmates called the victims. During these calls, the they made certain false representations to the victims, including: (a) that he was a Deschutes County law enforcement official; (b) that the potential victims had unlawfully failed to appear for jury duty; (c) that because the potential victims had failed to appear for jury duty, warrants had been issued for the victims' arrest; and (d) that the potential victims had a choice of being arrested on the warrants or pay fines to have the arrest warrants dismissed. To make the calls seem real, the inmates created fictitious voicemail greetings on their contraband cellular telephones, identifying themselves as members of the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office.

Unfortunately, several of our Deschutes County citizens made payment believing it would be used to pay the fine for failing to appear for jury duty and would result in the dismissal of the arrest warrant. For those victims who chose the "fine", the inmates instructed them to purchase pre-paid cash cards and provide the account number of the cash card.

After a victim provided an inmate with the account number of the pre-paid cash card, the inmates then used their contraband cellular telephones to contact the co-conspirators (Christina Wright and Barbara Clayton), who were not incarcerated, to have them transfer the money from the cash card purchased by the victims to a pre-paid debit card possessed by the co-conspirators. Next, the co-conspirators withdrew the victim's money, which had been transferred to the pre-paid debit card they controlled, via an automated teller machine or at a retail store. Typically, the co-conspirators then laundered the stolen money by purchasing a new cash card so that the victims' funds could be transferred back to the inmates.

During our investigation, Deschutes County Sheriff's Office Detectives located additional victims in Colorado, Kentucky and Virginia.

The Sheriff's Office wants the public to know they should never send someone money without verifying the information they are being provided first. It is not common practice for the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office to advise a citizen they have a warrant over the phone. In most cases a citizen with a warrant will be contacted in person, and the Deputy will have proper credentials when serving the warrant.

Sheriff Nelson said, "I am so proud of Sgt. Vander Kamp and everyone else who worked on this case. These types of cases can be time intensive and extremely difficult to investigate. Scams come in many different forms and being able to follow the leads and get this indictment is outstanding. Because of hard work and partnerships with other law enforcement agencies, these scammers will be held accountable."

An investigation of the complexity required partnerships with other Federal, State and local law enforcement agencies from around the United States. The Deschutes County Sheriff's Office and the United State Attorney's Office -- South Carolina received investigative assistance from:

Oregon State Police -- Bend
Oregon Department of Justice -- Criminal Division
South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED)
United States Marshal Service (Atlanta, GA)
Pueblo County (CO) Sheriff's Office
Albemarle County (VA) Sheriff's Office
Douglas County (GA) Sheriff's Office
Kentucky State Police

This investigation is on-going and more indictments and arrests are anticipated. Please contact Sgt. Kent Vander Kamp (541-693-6911) if you were a victim of this particular "warrant" scam and have not yet reported your loss.