BURLINGTON – Seven more Canadians, wanted in Vermont on federal charges as part of a multi-million “Grandparent Scam” that targeted vulnerable elderly people, have been arrested in Quebec on a new fraud indictment, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Burlington said Friday.

Twenty-five defendants were initially indicted in Burlington as part of the fraud that bilked more than $21 million out of the elderly in Vermont and at least 45 other states, officials said.

Now seven more defendants in a second indictment were identified this week following their arrest in Quebec on Thursday, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Ophardt said.

The seven new defendants are:  Evangelos “Bucky” Lohaitis, 36, Saint-Eustache; Mitchell “Juice” Burnett-Guarna, 39, Dorval; Kyle “Brock” Lesser, 34,  Notre-Dame-de-l’Île-Perrot; Glen “Buju” Crossley, 56, Kirkland; Cody “Lids” Jodouin-King, 28, Vaudreuil-Dorion; Panagiota “Nike” Fountotos, 29, Laval; and Luca “Rocco” SantaLucia, also known as LaCosta St. Francis, 27, Montreal.

St. Johnsbury lawyer David Sleigh represents SantaLucia, while the other defendants have not yet retained or been appointed counsel in Vermont, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. 

It is unclear how soon any of the new defendants will arrive in Vermont for their court arraignment. 

Only one of the original 25 defendants, Jimmy “Coop” Ylimaki, 36, who fled to Nicaragua, has been arraigned in Vermont.  His extradition was accomplished quicker because he was found in a foreign country. 

When Ylimaki was arraigned in March, Assistant U.S. Attorney Nate Burris successfully argued for detention and cited one of the seized phone call sheets that identified 34 Vermont targets with their names, addresses, ages, phone numbers and projected annual incomes ranges.

The top elderly target on the one-page exhibit was a 78-year-old resident of Killington with an income between $300,000 and $399,999, the call sheet indicated.

Four other targets, a 78-year-old in Burlington, a 78-year-old in Woodstock, a 77-year-old in Norwich and an 85-year-old in Lowell were all in the $200,000 to $299,999 annual income range, the exhibit reflected.

Police seized hundreds of “victim call lists” with potential targets, Burris noted.

On the call sheet Burris shared with Magistrate Judge Kevin Doyle, there were 10 targets in Windsor County, seven in Orange County and five in Chittenden County.  At least nine Vermont counties had targets, including five in the Northeast Kingdom.

According to the indictment, which was unsealed this week, between the summer of 2021 and June 4, 2024, the defendants engaged in a “Grandparent Scam” involving phone calls made from call centers in and around Montreal, Québec. During these phone calls, defendants falsely claimed to be an elderly victim’s relative, typically a grandchild, who had been arrested following a car crash and needed money for “bail.”

The indictment further outlines the scam:

Other defendants posed as an “attorney” representing the elderly victim’s relative. Elderly victims were often told that there was a “gag order” in place to prevent the elderly victim from telling anyone about their family member’s supposed arrest.

Elderly victims were convinced to provide bail money to an individual falsely posing as a bail bondsman, who would come to the elderly victim’s home to collect the money. This money was later transmitted to Canada following cash deliveries and financial transactions, sometimes involving cryptocurrency, which, the indictment maintains, obscured the source of the money and the identities of defendants. 

The defendants face up to 20 years in prison, if convicted. 

Ophardt praised the ongoing investigatory efforts of Homeland Security Investigations, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, as well as Customs and Border Protection.

Ophardt also acknowledged the contributions of numerous other local, state, and federal investigators and agencies across the United States who assisted the investigation, and recognized the contributions of the United States Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs as well as Justice Canada. 

The prosecutors are Assistant United States Attorneys Michelle Arra, Nicole Cate and Burris.

Ophardt said the prosecution is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by an Executive Order  for Protecting the American People Against Invasion.

The HSTF is a partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders, Ophardt said.