Joliet Woman Lee 'Ashley' Turner Admits Using Fake Gang, Mob and Police Threats to Take $1.6 Million From Elderly Man

Case from 2023 (U.S. Attorney's Office release: May 22, 2023). Published on Scammers.com Oct. 16, 2026; case status is current as of that date.

Lee Turner, also known as "Ashley Turner," 40, of Joliet, Illinois, pleaded guilty on May 16, 2023, in federal court in Chicago. She admitted that over about three years she used threats and false personas to get more than $1.6 million from a man in his seventies with limited vision, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois [1]. The court docket shows she was sentenced on Dec. 1, 2023, and that judgment was entered Dec. 8, 2023 [2]. We could not find the terms of her sentence in public sources.

How the scheme worked

According to the plea agreement, as described by the U.S. Attorney's Office [1]:

1. Invented accusations. From 2018 to 2021, Turner threatened to expose the victim's supposed criminal activity, though she had no knowledge of any crime by him.
2. Fake personas. She posed as other people to deliver false messages, including gang members, organized crime figures, prosecutors, journalists and corrupt law enforcement officers.
3. Fake raid threats. In one example from the plea agreement, Turner used the alias "Big Joe." She told the victim he had to pay $30,000 to stop law enforcement from raiding his home and a relative's home. He paid her $30,000 on June 13, 2019.
4. Dozens of payments. That was one of dozens of similar payments, ranging from $5,000 to $66,000. In all, the plea agreement says she received $1,611,975.

The defendant

Lee Turner ("Ashley Turner"), 40, Joliet, Ill. (N.D. Ill. No. 1:21-cr-00399)

• Plea: guilty on May 16, 2023, to one count of using a facility of interstate commerce to promote and carry on unlawful activity, namely theft and intimidation. The charge carries a maximum of five years in prison [1].
• Sentencing: originally set for Sept. 8, 2023, before U.S. District Judge Manish S. Shah [1]. The docket shows a sentencing hearing on Dec. 1, 2023, which also addressed a forfeiture motion, and a judgment entered Dec. 8, 2023 [2]. The sentence terms do not appear in the public records we reviewed.
• Investigation: the FBI and the Orland Park Police Department [1].

Red flags

• Messages claiming police, prosecutors or gangs are about to come after you unless you pay.
• Demands for cash to make an investigation or raid "go away." Real law enforcement never takes payments to call off a case.
• Callers or texters who switch identities, such as a "journalist," then a "cop," then a "mob associate."

What to do if you or a relative is targeted

1. Don't pay. Call your local police department directly to check any claim about an investigation.
2. Watch for sudden large withdrawals by older relatives, especially those with vision or memory problems.
3. Report threats and extortion to the FBI at tips.fbi.gov or ic3.gov, and contact Illinois Adult Protective Services at 866-800-1409.

Case status (as of Oct. 16, 2026)

Defendant	Court	Status as of Oct. 16, 2026	Source
Lee Turner ("Ashley Turner"), 40, Joliet, Ill.	N.D. Ill. (1:21-cr-00399)	Pleaded guilty May 16, 2023; sentenced Dec. 1, 2023 (judgment entered Dec. 8, 2023); sentence terms not found in public sources	[1], [2]

Sources

1. U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Illinois, "Woman Guilty of Using Threats and Intimidation to Bilk Elderly Victim Out of More Than $1.6 Million," May 22, 2023. https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/pr/woman-guilty-using-threats-and-intimidation-bilk-elderly-victim-out-more-16-million
2. CourtListener, United States v. Turner, No. 1:21-cr-00399 (N.D. Ill.), docket. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/61071488/united-states-v-turner/

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