Elderly widows targeted in ‘romance’ fraud; suspect arrested at KCI leaving country

A Kansas City man who swindled hundreds of thousands of dollars from unwitting widows in a romance fraud scheme was arrested as he tried to fly out of the country, according to federal prosecutors.

Ronayerin K. Ogolor was arrested Friday at Kansas City International Airport as he prepared to board a flight. He was going to fly to Germany, prosecutors said.

Ogolor, 49, is charged in U.S. District Court in Kansas City with conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Federal prosecutors allege that since 2014, Ogolor defrauded his victims out of more than $878,000.

He and other participants in the conspiracy are charged with targeting people through websites such as Facebook, ChristianMingle.com or Hangout.com.

Victims, both men and women, were contacted across the United States, in Canada and in Europe.

Once relationships were established, conspirators requested money from their victims for things like hospital bills, travel fees, customs expenses, gold import taxes, or investment opportunities, the charges allege.

Victims were told to send money through wire transfers or to deposit money into bank accounts, including accounts set up allegedly by Ogolor.

Court documents say 13 different victims each sent tens of thousands of dollars to Ogolor.

In one case, a widow from Indiana who was contacted through Facebook sent $450,000 to Ogolor, according to the allegations.

Another victim in Texas, who thought she was communicating with a widower who was a U.S. Army general in Afghanistan, lost at least $300,000, the documents show.

Other alleged victims of Ogolor lived in Alabama, Ohio, Washington, Arizona, Florida, Illinois, California and Italy.

FBI agents who had been investigating the case learned that Ogolor, a naturalized American citizen originally from Nigeria, was preparing to leave the United States.

They arrested him on Friday at KCI as he prepared to board a flight. His destination was listed as Frankfurt, Germany.

He is now in custody and prosecutors are seeking to have him held without bond while the case is pending.

This story was originally published October 22, 2018 at 10:32 AM.