(Washington, D.C.) The U.S. Secret Service, New Haven Resident Office, successfully
concluded a prison-based phone fraud and extortion scheme case against Darrik Forsythe
when he was sentenced in U.S. District Court, District of Connecticut. Forsythe was sentenced
on March 13, 2017, by U.S. District Judge Robert Chatigny in Hartford, CT, to 46 months of
imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay full restitution
for his role in the scheme.
According to court documents and statements in court between February 2011, and October
2011, Forsythe and at least three other inmates at the Lawton (Oklahoma) Correctional Facility
utilized smuggled cellular phones to obtain a total of $674,100 from one Connecticut resident
through the scheme. Under false pretense and threat, Forsythe and others involved in the
scheme befriended gay men on phone-based chat lines. The Connecticut victim had befriended
an individual named “Joe” on Megamates, a phone-based dating service. After befriending
“Joe” individuals began to call the victim demanding money. The callers threatened to reveal
the victim’s sexual orientation and cause physical harm to the victim or his family if the victim
did not comply. The callers initially demanded cash and later instructed the victim to send
prepaid debit card numbers. As the scheme progressed, the callers demanded increased
amounts of money ranging from several hundreds of dollars to $5,000 or more, multiple times
per week. The victim contacted law enforcement after depleting his family’s $670,000
inheritance for which he served as the custodian. He committed suicide in 2014.
Forsythe has been serving a twenty-year sentence for robbery since 2002. His federal sentence
will run consecutive to his state sentence.
This case was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service, New Haven Resident Office, with
assistance from the U.S. Secret Service Oklahoma Field Office, the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, and the Oklahoma Department of Corrections. This case was prosecuted by the
U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Connecticut, with the assistance of members of the U.S.
Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Oklahoma.