A suspect in a large-scale Jamaican lottery scam being prosecuted in the U.S. is seeking to have evidence suppressed.
Melinda Bulgin, of Providence, Rhode Island, maintains her rights were violated when authorities questioned her in Jamaica in May 2015 and in Rhode Island in July of that year. In court documents, defense attorney Kevin Chapman said all statements, admissions, confessions, letters, recordings and other evidence directly pertaining to what he called the illegal interrogations must be suppressed.
Prosecutors have not yet responded to the defense motion.
A hearing on the matter is scheduled for January 22. That was the day Bulgin’s trial was to begin but both the defense and prosecution have asked that it be delayed.
According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Clare Hochhalter, the US government anticipates a 10-day trial with about 50 witnesses.
Prosecutors believe the case to be the first large-scale Jamaican lottery scam prosecuted in the U.S. The suspects are accused of calling victims about bogus lottery winnings, persuading them to send advance fees to receive the purported winnings, then keeping the money without paying out anything to the victims.