This is my first post.
My sister was arrested 2 weeks ago and is still being detained.
She does not have money for an attorney so was appointed a public defendant. But since the PDs are busy, she has yet had a chance to meet and talk to him. I have called and left messages for him, but as of today, I have not had any phone calls returned. (She HAS given written permission for him to speak to me).
Since she is in jail, I have not even been able to talk to her to find out what is going on, but her case is big enough that it has been on tv state wide. She is being accused of taking part in a 7.1 million dollar international scheme. Looks like her part of this is that she wrote fraudulent checks for over $500,000 for eBay and craigslist scams and then wired all of the overpayments to NIGERIA!!!!
Her son has been able to access her yahoo email accounts and it looks like she was being scammed by someone she "fell in love with" online. He owned his own Nigeria business. And a friend of his needed part time help doing payroll for his company. She was sending her "salary" to her love in Nigereia so that he could sell his failing business and come join her here in the US.
I'm afraid to say, it looks like she will be doing a lot of jail time. She is charged with 6 felonies at this time and the investigation is still ongoing. They are even trying to tie this into international terrorism!
Does anyone know where I can turn for help?
I have contacted fraud aid.com but have not gotten any reply yet.
I know I am her sister, but I can not believe she would have knowingly done this. But, I can't believe she was this gullible either...
Our mother passed away 2 years ago and her husband of 25 years left her only 6 months later. Could she have been in such a vulnerable state that she just wanted to believe this so much, that she wouldn't listen to common sense?
Is her case hopeless? Does anyone know how to get pro Bono legal help?
Any advice would be gratly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Leah
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