Juanita Lamb and two others told the woman they'd share a bag of money they claimed to find if she helped pay the taxes on it
NEW YORK -- A New Jersey woman who helped orchestrate a "found money" scam which bilked a senior citizen out of more than $10,000 was sentenced to prison Tuesday.
Juanita Lamb, 58 of Englewood, was sentenced to 2 1/2 to 5 years in prison, the Queens County District Attorney said in a news release. Lamb pleaded guilty to third-degree grand larceny and third-degree criminal possession of stolen property in November.
In 2008, Lamb was sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison in Delaware for a similar con in which she stole more than $6,300 from an 86-year-old woman.
Deanna Rhett, 60, of Manhattan and an unnamed third person also ran the scheme on the 88-year-old victim over two days in 2015.
The third con artist begin chatting with the woman on a street corner in Jackson Heights, Queens on Aug. 1, 2015. Rhett arrived and showed their target a bag full of what was actually fake money, claiming she had just found it and would share it with the senior citizen in exchange for helping paying the taxes on it.
Lamb, meanwhile, offered to give the woman a ride home.
Two days later, the trio picked up the woman and drove her to a bank, where she withdrew $10,300 in cash, which she handed to Rhett.
They then returned to the woman's home after the defendants told her they needed proof of her address to pay the taxes. While the woman was inside retrieving the paper work, the three fled.
Police pulled over the Buick not far from the victim's home and and recovered $3,100 from the floor of the driver's seat. Cops found $4,100 on the floor of the front passenger seat and another $3,100 from the third defendant's waistband.
The car also contained several wigs and paper that appeared to be $100 bills but contained the phrase, "for theatrical use."
Rhett was previously sentenced to 2 to 4 years in prison in Dec. 1, 2016. The third defendant is awaiting trial.
Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman. Find NJ.com on Facebook.