A Florida woman who stole nearly $3m from a Holocaust survivor through what authorities described as a romance scam must serve more than four years in prison, a federal judge ruled.
Peaches Stergo, 36, received her sentence on Thursday in federal court in Manhattan, after pleading guilty to wire fraud in April. She was arrested in January on charges that she stole $2.8m from an 88-year-old man who, investigators said, fell for a prolonged ruse which ended in 2021.
That year, the victim was among about 24,000 people who collectively lost more than $1bn to so-called romance scammers, often operating under false online personas and gaining the trust of lonely people seeking companionship on dating websites.
It was on one of those websites where the victim encountered Stergo in 2017. She convinced him she needed money for an attorney withholding money from an injury settlement. No such settlement existed, prosecutors said.
From her home in Champions Gate, Florida, Stergo successfully sought more money by saying she needed it to gain access to a bank account from which she would repay the victim. Prosecutors said the victim wrote 62 checks to Stergo, who even impersonated a bank employee and forged documents and emails meant to reassure the New York resident he would be repaid.
The victim lost his life savings and his apartment. Stergo bought a home in a gated community, a condominium, a boat, several luxury cars and Rolex watches. She also treated herself to extravagant vacations and clothes and purses from high-end designers.
In text messages to her actual partner, she mocked her victim for saying he “loved” her – and also dismissed him as “broke”.
“[He] don’t have anything else to pawn,” read one text from Stergo included in a statement from the office of New York City US attorney, Damian Williams.
The scheme came to an end when the victim told his son in October 2021 he had loaned out his life savings. The son told his father he had been defrauded. The victim stopped writing checks and contacted authorities, who tracked Stergo down.
Stergo’s attorney, Ann Fitz, told NBC News she believed the four-year, three-month sentence was the appropriate length. Ahead of sentencing, Fitz submitted documents which recounted how Stergo had childhood instability and trauma which drove her to compulsive behaviors: drinking, gambling and the scam to which she pleaded guilty.
Prosecutors said texts from Stergo proved she conducted the scam because she was “aggravated” she didn’t have more money and the thought of lawful employment was tiresome.
“I don’t want to work,” said one text. “It’s too hard.”
The judge, Edgardo Ramos, also ordered Stergo to forfeit her home and luxury goods acquired through the scam.
NBC said that the victim had written to Ramos. The victim – whose name has not been released – recounted how he moved to the US in his 20s after his parents died in the Holocaust.
“I worked tirelessly to establish a successful business, family and home in New York,” the victim said in a letter prosecutors quoted as they requested an eight-year sentence.
“The last thing I expected was to finish my days in the same manner that I started them – penniless and betrayed.”
Reported romance scams fell slightly last year to 19,000 victims and nearly $740m in losses. Nonetheless, the FBI still urges online users to stay vigilant, saying older people can be especially vulnerable.
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