A man identified as Sherwayne Benjamin Bellinfantie, 40, has pleaded guilty in connection with a multi‑year fraud scheme that preyed on an elderly Arizona resident and resulted in the loss of nearly $470,000. Court documents show the scheme spanned roughly three years, beginning in December 2015 and continuing until January 2019. Federal prosecutors say the victim, an 85‑year‑old Arizona resident, was targeted with a series of deceptive tactics that combined elements of a romance scam with sweepstakes and lottery fraud.
Mugshot of the man who pleaded guilty in a three‑year romance-and-lottery scam that targeted an Arizona senior, according to court records.
In his plea agreement, Bellinfantie admitted that he and unidentified co‑conspirators used personal contact and correspondence to establish and maintain what appeared to be a romantic relationship with the victim. The group sent flowers and delivered messages to the woman's home as part of that charade, a tactic prosecutors say was designed to build trust and emotional reliance. Separately, members of the conspiracy convinced the victim that she had won prizes, including a cash lottery and a new automobile, but that in order to collect those winnings she first needed to pay fees, taxes or other administrative costs.
Illustration of keyboard keys labeled 'DATING' with a magnifying glass and hearts, representing online dating and romance scams referenced in the story.
The plea documents describe a pattern of financial transfers and shipments: the victim mailed funds to multiple locations across the country and transferred money to various individuals at the direction of the conspirators. Bellinfantie acknowledged in the agreement that he received a share of the money taken from the victim. Prosecutors calculated the victim's total losses at approximately $469,302 and say Bellinfantie has agreed to repay that amount through restitution. The agreement outlines the scheme's mechanics without identifying every participant, but it attributes both the romance and the lottery aspects of the fraud to the same conspiratorial effort to deceive and extract funds.
Bellinfantie was originally indicted in March 2022. He was subsequently extradited to the United States on June 12, 2025, to face prosecution in federal court. The investigation that led to charges was conducted by the FBI's Phoenix division through its Tucson office. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Arizona, in Tucson, is handling the prosecution. Beyond the admission contained in the plea agreement, court filings detail how the conspirators synchronized multiple lines of deception — feigned intimacy and fabricated prize notifications — to persuade the victim to part with large sums of money over an extended period.
The chronology presented in charging documents places the initial contact and the opening stages of the schemes in late 2015, then follows repeated interactions and transactions through early 2019. Prosecutors note that the use of tangible items — flowers and mailed messages — and electronic communications were both employed to sustain the illusion. In the sweepstakes and lottery portion of the scheme, the victim was repeatedly told that payment of fees or taxes was required before a prize could be released; the victim responded by making payments and sending funds when and where instructed. Those transfers were routed to different locations and to several individuals, a dispersal pattern that investigators say complicated the trail of money.
The plea agreement formalizes Bellinfantie's admission of involvement and his responsibility for receiving proceeds from the fraud. It also contains his consent to make restitution to the victim in the amount identified by prosecutors. Prosecutors did not release additional information identifying other alleged co‑conspirators or the means by which the funds were distributed among them. The FBI's Tucson office continues to be cited in filings as having conducted the investigation that culminated in federal charges and the subsequent extradition of Bellinfantie from abroad.
Court records show that the case will be managed by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Tucson as the prosecution moves forward under the terms of the plea. The documents filed to date summarize the methods used by the conspirators, the timeline of the alleged criminal conduct, the scale of the financial harm to the victim, and Bellinfantie's acceptance of responsibility through the plea and restitution agreement. No additional sentencing information or details about ongoing related investigations were included in the materials released with the plea.
Federal authorities involved in the case have emphasized in filings the coordination required to track the money and to assemble evidence spanning multiple jurisdictions. The documents further note the vulnerability of the individual targeted by the scheme, identified in court papers only by age and state of residence. The loss calculated by prosecutors — roughly $469,302 — is the figure that the defendant has agreed to repay as part of the resolution memorialized in the plea agreement. The prosecution will proceed in federal court under the oversight of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Arizona, Tucson, with investigative credit attributed to the FBI's Phoenix division, Tucson office.