by Mike Donoghue, Vermont News First, Vermont Business Magazine A Manchester, N.H. man, who officials linked to a more than $636,000 attempted interstate fraud case on an elderly Windsor County woman, has been sentenced to six months in federal prison.
Nicholas Melanson, 42, a single father with two children will have until Sept. 27 to get his affairs in order and to find living arrangements for his 16-year-old son to reside. A 20-year-old daughter was in college when Melanson pleaded guilty in December.
Chief Federal Judge Christina Reiss in Burlington, Vermont, agreed to recommend a federal prison near Melanson's home that also has a medical facility to deal with the defendant's health issues.
The fraud was interrupted in May 2022 through the efforts of Windsor Police Department with help from Hartford Police and federal officials.
"I am glad for our victim that we were able to intervene before she suffered even more monetary loss, and thankful for a justice system that is holding the offender accountable," Windsor Police Chief Jennifer Frank said this week.
"We can only hope that this will deter this offender and others from making efforts in the future to defraud other vulnerable older adults from their hard-earned money."
Judge Reiss noted the victim no longer felt safe living at home due to Melanson's conduct. She had been described as a "fiercely independent and private person who lived alone and managed her own affairs," but has since moved out, the government said.
While the name of the victim, who is in her 70's, is mentioned in some court papers, Vermont News First has opted not to identify her.
Melanson pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Burlington in December to the interstate transportation of stolen securities by taking a $25,000 check across state lines from Vermont to New Hampshire between May 11 and May 13, 2022.
The check was made payable to Nicholas R. Melanson when he knew it had been stolen and taken by fraud from the Windsor County woman, records show.
Windsor Police had been asked to do a welfare check on the woman in May 2022 and the case soon mushroomed into a criminal investigation into an interstate fraud scheme to steal money and property from the victim.
Chief Frank said the investigation revealed the Mascoma Bank reported the woman wrote $430,000 in checks to four people and one business between April and May 2022.
Another seven checks totaling $206,782 were scheduled to be mailed in May 2022 when intercepted by investigators, Frank said in court papers.
In the end Melanson, formerly of Hookset, N.H., was gullible and got sucked into a scam with him only getting $1,500, records show.
Officials said banks were able to stop or reverse payments, but the final intended loss was at least $392,000, court records said.
Assistant Federal Defender Mary Nerino said her client was just a small fish in a large scam that may have been international.
Nerino also questioned why her client is the only defendant the U.S. Attorney's Office in Vermont has gone after.
Nerino asked that Melanson be placed on probation for five years and that he be allowed to maintain supporting his family.
The elderly Windsor resident and a Texas woman in her 80s were both led to believe they had won large awards from Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes. The Windsor woman said she was told she would receive $3.5 million over the remainder of her life, records show.
The Texas woman, known as "J.T.," thought her winnings were $18.5 million, court records note. Some of the checks written on the accounts of the Windsor woman were for made out to the Texas woman for deposit, records show.
Both women told similar stories of being connected to a financial adviser named "John."
There also was a third woman "S.C." mentioned in court papers that also may have been a victim.
Melanson apologized during his sentencing this week for defrauding the Windsor woman and for the shame of the case.
He said he got pulled into the scheme by a woman that he had met over the Internet in late 2021.
"I thought I was in love," he told the court during the 95-minute sentencing hearing this week.
He believed "Natasha" was a pornography star who live-streamed videos on OnlyFans and she also worked in finance and fashion design, court papers noted.
During their seven-month relationship they exchanged dozens of nude photographs of each other, but he said he never met the woman and never talked to her, records show.
The two only exchanged electronic messages by email and texting. He said they had texted about an eventual life together, but in the end, he was left out to hang for the case.
Judge Reiss said Melanson had his share of blame.
"This is not a passive role," said Reiss, who ordered Melanson to repay the $1,500 he received. It had been given to him in an apparent effort to string him along in the con.
"Melanson played a key role in the financial victimization of a confused, distressed elderly woman who lived alone," Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicole Cate wrote in her sentencing memo.
"He went back again and again," she said during the hearing.
Over the course of nine days in May 2022, Melanson drove from Manchester, N.H. to Windsor to visit the elderly woman at her home five times. They would go to banks to write checks or make withdrawals.
The federal sentencing guidelines, which are advisory, had suggested a penalty between 24 and 30 months in prison.
Melanson could have faced up to 10 years in prison, up to 3 years on supervised release and up to a $250,000 fine.
Melanson was due to go on trial for 14 felony charges last December when he reached a deal with prosecutors.
Melanson told the court that he had recently received a promotion at work from produce delivery driver to warehouse manager. He has been with the Manchester company for about 13 years.
The defendant was working on the interstate scam with several people, including two people above him that were calling the shots in the organization: Tatiana Laurent, also known as "Natasha" and "John Broker," court records show.
Melanson, who had never met the elderly Windsor woman and only interacted five times with her, said he quickly noticed she "was confused, flustered and appeared to be 'starting to have Alzheimer's,'" Cate wrote.
Melanson would drive the woman to the bank so she could conduct large-dollar transactions, along with checks and cash, records show.
He received a bonus payment for his role in victimizing the Windsor woman and at one point he hoped to be put on the payroll for $10,000 a month, records show. The trip between Manchester, N.H. and Windsor is about 90 miles one-way.
The fraud only stopped because Windsor Police arrested him initially on state charges, including three felony counts as more fraud was unfolding on May 19, 2022.
Hartford Police Lt. Thomas Howell Jr. located Melanson at the People’s United branch on Maple Street and the suspect claimed to be a nephew of the victim, court papers stated.
Melanson was unable to say on what side of the family he was related to and eventually he admitted the claim was false, Frank said in a court affidavit.
Later that day, Frank learned Melanson and the victim were at the Mascoma Bank in Windsor and she arrested him, court records show.
The case was eventually taken over by federal prosecutors due to the interstate connections.
The chief helped draft a court affidavit to seek a temporary emergency guardianship for the elderly woman in order to protect her assets, records show.
The U.S. Secret Service determined her husband was dead and she had no known living relatives on either side of the family.
Cate, the prosecutor, attempted to have Melanson jailed in May 2023 for violating his federal conditions of release after he was charged with two felonies in Hillsborough County, N.H.
Manchester Police said Melanson was wanted for passing a worthless $10,000 forged check and a $4,332 theft by deception, both in December 2022, records show.
Those New Hampshire charges were dropped, and he reportedly made restitution.
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