A yearslong fake lottery scheme that drained a Vancouver senior’s life savings has ended in a federal courtroom. This week, Jamaican citizen Roshard Andrew Carty, 34, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to wire fraud after a sweepstakes scam that took more than $550,000 from a 73-year-old Vancouver woman. Prosecutors say Carty posed as a Publisher’s Clearing House employee and hounded the victim for years, eventually convincing her to borrow against and sell her home. He is scheduled for sentencing on May 14, 2026.
According to a Feb. 13 press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington, Carty admitted to a single count of wire fraud. Prosecutors say that between August 2020 and February 2024 he directed the victim to send more than $550,000 in cash to U.S.-based couriers, who then forwarded the money to Jamaica. The release also notes that Carty was arrested in Jamaica on Aug. 21, 2025 and later consented to extradition to the United States.
FOX 13 Seattle reports that prosecutors will recommend a sentence of no more than 41 months in prison, even though the wire fraud charge carries a statutory maximum of up to 20 years. The station also notes that the federal case is being handled in Tacoma federal court and summarizes the lengthy paper trail laid out in courtroom filings.
How prosecutors say the scheme worked
Court filings described by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington say Carty told the woman she had won $22 million and a car, then claimed she had to pay taxes and fees up front to collect her supposed prize. As the years went by, prosecutors say he kept ratcheting up the demands…