KANSAS CITY– A Kansas City man pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to participating in a romance fraud scheme that bilked victims across the United States and overseas of nearly $900,000, according to the United State Attorney.

Ronayerin K. Ogolor, 50, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Nigeria, pleaded guilty before U.S. Chief District Judge Beth Phillips to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Ogolor, who was arrested at Kansas City International Airport on Oct. 19, 2018, before he boarded a plane to Frankfurt, Germany, remains in federal custody.

By pleading guilty, Ogolor admitted that he participated in a conspiracy since 2013 that targeted people, some of them elderly, in search of companionship or romance through online websites such as Facebook, ChristianMingle.com, or Hangout.com. Ogolor defrauded his victims of $878,489 in total. Under the terms of today’s plea agreement, Ogolor must forfeit that amount in a money judgment to the government.

The perpetrators of the romance scams created several profiles on online dating sites. Conspirators then contacted men and women throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe, with whom they cultivated a sense of affection and often romance. Having established relationships with the victims, the perpetrators of the romance scams ultimately requested money for hospital fees, travel fees, “customs expenses,” “gold import taxes,” or investment opportunities. Conspirators directed the victims to wire transfer or deposit money into various bank accounts, including accounts established and maintained by Ogolor. Often after the victims transferred money into the specified accounts, conspirators claimed more money was needed, “to release the package” or “to pay customs expenses” on money or gold.

On other occasions, conspirators fraudulently obtained checks through business email compromise, and had the victims deposit the checks into their accounts and wire and deposit money into various accounts, including accounts established and maintained by Ogolor. In a business email compromise, the conspirators hack into a business email account, and then send an email from what appears to be an employee with authority to approve payments, instructing that a check be disbursed in the victim’s name and sent to the victim. By using victims to deposit the checks and distribute the money, the conspirators distanced themselves from the business email hacking and fraud.

In furtherance of the scheme, Ogolor opened several bank accounts in his name and in the names of sham businesses. The romance fraud victims wired and deposited their money and money from counterfeit or fraudulently obtained checks into Ogolor’s accounts. Soon after receiving the fraudulently obtained wires or deposits, Ogolor wired money to co-conspirators and/or withdrew the money in cash.

Court documents refer to 13 victims (in Alabama, Ohio, Washington, Arizona, Florida, Illinois, California, and Italy) who each sent tens of thousands of dollars to Ogolor. One victim (a widow in Indiana who received a friend request on Facebook) believed a co-conspirator was a widower working on an oil rig off the coast of Louisiana; she lost a total of $450,000 to Ogolor and others. Another victim in Texas, who believed a co-conspirator was a widower and U.S. Army general deployed in Afghanistan, lost at least $300,000.

Under federal statutes, Ogolor is subject to a sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison without parole. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A state oversight board has revoked the certification of a fired Wichita police recruit who admitted to battering his girlfriend.

The Kansas Commission on Peace Officers’ Standards and Training wrote in the order of revocation that Lauro Garcia III lacks “conduct that warrants the public trust.” Garcia admitted as part of a diversion agreement that he battered and screamed at his girlfriend while at bar before going home and throwing her belongings into a pond.

Garcia said in Sedgwick County District Court that he was guilty of domestic battery and criminal damage to property.

The order, dated Sept. 26, was released on Monday following a Kansas Open Records Act request.

Garcia was fired in March 2018 before he completed the training academy.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Republican-dominated Senate committee has endorsed a plan for expanding government-funded health care for poor and working-class Kansans, despite concerns that it raises tobacco taxes and doesn’t have a work requirement for participants.

The Medicaid expansion proposal written by Kansas Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning differs significantly from an expansion plan backed by Gov. Laura Kelly and fellow Democrats.

Denning’s plan is designed not only to expand the state’s $3.8 billion-a-year Medicaid program but also to lower premiums paid by Kansas consumers who buy their insurance through an online federal marketplace set up under the 2010 federal Affordable Care Act. The goal is to keep some Kansans in private health plans, rather than having them move to Medicaid, as plans favored by Democrats would do.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports the plan would offer health care coverage to an estimated 150,000 Kansans. It would raise tobacco and vaping taxes by $50 million and add a $31 million surcharge on hospitals and $63 million in fees for managed-care organizations serving Medicaid clients.

Denning, a Kansas City-area Republican, said tax and fee hikes are necessary to pay for expansion.

“We can’t put any more stress on the state general fund,” he said.

Denning and other top Republican senators blocked a Medicaid expansion plan favored by Kelly earlier this year, arguing that it could prove too costly to the state and that lawmakers needed to take more time to get the details right. Kelly made expanding Medicaid a key promise in her successful campaign for governor last year. At the end of the legislative session Republican leaders vowed to work on a plan to consider in 2020. Kelly also has a panel studying the question.

Medicaid covers about 342,000 low-income, elderly and disabled Kansas residents. Non-disabled adults without children don’t qualify, and adults with children must have incomes well below the poverty level to be eligible.

Thirty-six states and the District of Columbia have expanded Medicaid. Kansas is among 14 states that declined, largely because Republican leaders said it would end up costing the state despite a federal government promise to pay for most of the cost.

Democrats this week criticized Denning’s GOP plan as unnecessarily complicated.

“We need a Medicaid expansion plan that is simple, effective and sustainable for Kansas,” Kelly said in a statement. “We don’t need to create extra bureaucratic red tape, raise taxes, and create more hurdles to access to health care.”

Conservative Republican senators on the committee questioned lack of a specific provision in the bill prohibiting abortions to be paid by Medicaid, while others were concerned about insurance cost shifts from individuals to the commercial sector.

Under Denning’s plan, the state would ask Medicaid participants whether they are employed and, if they are not, what issues keep them from working, so the state can address them. But it’s not a requirement that Medicaid participants be employed or undergo job training. Some Republicans see a work requirement as crucial.