A Jamaican citizen was sentenced late yesterday in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to three years in prison for wire fraud for his lottery scheme that cost an elderly victim more than $600,000.
Roshard Andrew Carty, 34, was arrested in Jamaica on August 21, 2025, and arrived in the Western District of Washington for arraignment on October 23, 2025. He pleaded guilty in February 2026. At the sentencing hearing U.S. District Judge Tiffany M. Cartwright said, “Even as (the victim) hesitated and tried to resist,” Carty persisted in contacting her through a variety of means.
“This defendant was relentless in defrauding a vulnerable victim,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. “At every turn when she tried to end the contact, he persisted playing on her isolation and her fear of losing the money she had already lost. He stole the money she was counting on to survive in retirement, so that he could buy luxuries and live large in Jamaica. It is despicable conduct deserving of this punishment.”
According to records filed in the case, Carty first contacted the 73-year-old southwest Washington victim in 2020. He posed as an employee of Publisher’s Clearinghouse and claimed the victim won $22 million and a car in the lottery, but that she needed to pay taxes and fees to access her winnings. He convinced the victim that the FBI was recording the call and told her she was not to tell anyone about the big win. Between August 2020 and February 2024, he convinced the victim to send more than $600,000 to various money couriers throughout the United States, who ultimately sent the money to Carty in Jamaica.
Carty’s requests for cash started small and grew over time. He directed the victim to remove small amounts of cash from her accounts and send them to U.S. locations via FedEx. Carty told the victim the money was lost or stolen and demanded more. Carty told the victim to borrow against her home so she could send more money. Carty convinced the victim to sell her home to cover additional “costs and fees” to claim her prize. In all, Carty stole more than $600,000 from the victim by having her mail the money to various couriers in the U.S.
Carty was relentless in contacting the victim using various phone numbers and texting programs. He contacted her thousands of times throughout the fraud. When she tried to cut off contact, he tried sending tow trucks, pizza deliveries, and asked her landlord for a welfare check to try to get back in touch with the victim.
“Mr. Carty relentlessly and cruelly manipulated and intimidated his elderly victim to deprive her of her life savings for his own profit," said W. Mike Herrington, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Seattle field office. "His lies in pursuit of her money even went so far as to abuse the trust and credibility of law enforcement by claiming the FBI was recording a call. Ultimately, the victim lost her home without receiving any of the fictitious prize money Mr. Carty had promised. We hope this case sends a message to would-be lottery scammers that the FBI will work just as relentlessly with our partners to hold fraudsters accountable, even when they reside beyond the borders of the United States.”
The southwest Washington victim was not the only one uncovered by law enforcement, and investigators fear Carty may return to fraud after his prison term.
As the government pointed out in its sentencing memorandum, “Carty’s conduct here shows he is relentless, callous, and has an aptitude for deception—he is unlikely to be deterred by the reality that his conduct left people like Victim 1 destitute. Carty knew Victim 1, Victim 2, and likely others were insolvent because of him, and yet he persisted in his scam. And unlike with U.S.-based defendants, the U.S. Probation Office cannot effectively monitor Carty when he returns home.”
Carty was indicted in November 2024. Following his August 2025 arrest in Jamaica, Carty consented to extradition to the United States. He pleaded guilty in February 2026.
The U.S. Embassy in Jamaica has a page devoted to lottery scams based in that country. Find it here. The bottom line: You never should pay to receive a prize and any request for advance fees is a scam.
The case was investigated by the FBI. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Lauren Watts Staniar and David T. Martin. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs worked with the Government of Jamaica to secure the arrest and extradition of Carty.