Costa Rican authorities arrested five men suspected of operating in a scam from Costa Rica through a call center operation.

Initially Channel 7 news  in Costa Rica informed that the United States police was after the trace of 12 US fugitives and 1 Costa Rican: Donald Harold Dodt, Dino Nastasi, Thomas Sniffen, Sabrina Joy Mommers, Stephen Fink, Jordan Gavin, David Fairchild, Barry Harmelin, Patricio Del Hoyo, Michael Saxon, Carlin Woods and Robert Jesús Valdés Fernández; however, the Costa Rica Migration offices confirmed that only six of them  remained in the country illegally.

The detention of 5 of them took place in the communities of Pavas, Leon XII and Escazú at the request of the United States authorities that wants the suspects extradited to North Carolina as soon as possible.

The five men arrested are: Donald Harold Dodt, Mortimer Jordan Gavin, Thomas Sniffen, Dino Nastasi and Stephen Fink. A women under the name Sabrina Joy Mommers remains fugitive.

According to information provided by the state attorney, the group operated between 2010 and May of 2014, their target were elderly citizens over who the group called and made believe they had won a lottery prize which they could claim after making a refundable deposit for taxes and insurance.

The group allegedly scammed over 1,000 people in the United Stated and obtained profits for over US$9 million.

The indictment sent from North Carolina includes a list of transactions, the fugitives’ names and states:

“The defendants, together with others known and unknown to the Grand Jury, did knowingly transport, transmit and transfer and cause to be transported, transmitted and transferred, monetary instruments and funds from a place in the United States to and through a place outside the United States, with the intent to promote the carrying on of specified unlawful activity, namely wire fraud”, states the document sent to Costa Rican authorities.

According to the investigations carried out by the United States and Costa Rican police, some of the suspects established other businesses in Costa Rica in the past few years, mainly in Escazú under different corporations; among them, Donald Harold Dodt who is the vice-president of Logia Luz Número 3 and treasurer of Planteamiento Tecnológico Plantec; Dino Nastasi is the president of Stand-Up Comics, and OSB Worldwide; Thomas Sniffen appears as the President of T Y M Sniffen and  secretary of T Y L Construction as well as treasurer of Yogurt Bar; Sabrina Joy Mommers is the treasurer of Finca Cerro Alto.