In U.S. District Court: Saugus woman gets 54 months prison sentence for defrauding her elderly uncle out of close to $500,000

  A Saugus woman faces 54 months in federal prison in connection with a scheme to defraud her elderly uncle of his life savings – close to a half-million dollars. U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns this week also ordered Jayne Carbone, 54, of 25 Emory St., to pay $493,279 in restitution and forfeiture. A federal jury last October convicted Carbone of four counts of wire fraud and four counts of aggravated identity theft.

  Carbone was the caretaker for her uncle from 2007 to 2018 and managed his finances. Federal prosecutors said she systematically defrauded her uncle of $493,279 by using her uncle’s name and Social Security number to withdraw the funds from his bank accounts. She fraudulently withdrew funds from his retirement annuity and transferred funds from his personal checking account to her own bank accounts. To conceal the scheme, Carbone intercepted her uncle’s mail, removed his bank statements and then delivered him fake statements reflecting inflated balances. Once the scheme was uncovered, Carbone refused to return the funds and made various threats against her uncle and other family members.

  The charge of wire fraud provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense. The charge of aggravated identity theft provides for a mandatory sentence of two years in prison consecutive to any other sentence imposed, up to one year of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense.

  U.S. Attorney Rachael S. Rollins; the FBI’s Special Agent in Charge of the Boston Division, Joseph R. Bonavolonta; and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Inspector in Charge of the Boston Division, Ketty Larco-Ward, made the sentencing announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christopher J. Markham, James R. Drabick and Leslie Wright of Rollins’ Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit prosecuted the case.