Rochester Man Gets 51 Months for Stolen-Card Charges, Pandemic Aid Fraud and a Romance Scam Payout

Published Oct. 27, 2026. Case statuses are current as of that date.

One man's bank account, federal prosecutors say, became a landing spot for several different kinds of fraud at once: charges run on stolen credit card numbers, pandemic loans and unemployment benefits he wasn't entitled to, and $42,000 sent by a widow who believed she was helping an oil rig worker she'd met on Facebook.

On Oct. 23, 2026, Timothy Wadsworth, 35, of Rochester, New York, was sentenced to 51 months in prison and ordered to pay $810,965.19 in restitution after being convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of New York announced [1]. Prosecutors put actual and intended losses at about $2,059,893.

Important: Wadsworth has been convicted and sentenced. His unnamed co-conspirators have not been identified, and anyone not convicted is presumed innocent.

How the schemes worked

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office [1]:

1. Stolen card numbers run through a merchant account. Between March 2020 and September 2021, Wadsworth got credit card numbers from co-conspirators and processed unauthorized charges. From March 10 to May 15, 2020, using an account with the payment processor Stripe, he attempted 310 payments totaling $1,673,578. Of those, 116 initially went through, totaling $730,728.22. The cardholders had not authorized them.

2. Cashing out through crypto. He moved the money from Stripe to his bank accounts at HSBC and Evolve Federal Credit Union, then to Coinbase, bought Bitcoin and sent it to outside addresses, often in transactions over $10,000. Between April 22 and 28, 2020, for example, he moved $49,419.99, $45,501.85 and $53,496.75 from Stripe to HSBC.

3. Pandemic loans. From May 2020 through May 2021, Wadsworth and others submitted nine false Economic Injury Disaster Loan applications; three were approved, paying $161,200. Between March 7 and April 26, 2021, he applied for six Paycheck Protection Program loans totaling $91,219; two were funded, for $20,833 and $20,416. The applications misrepresented the businesses' revenue and operations.

4. Unemployment benefits. From May 2020 through September 2021, he fraudulently collected about $65,896 in unemployment benefits from New York, Washington state and the Department of Labor.

5. A romance scam. In 2020, a recently widowed woman met someone on Facebook who claimed to be an oil rig worker and asked her for $42,000 for travel expenses to return to the United States. She was directed to wire the money to Wadsworth's bank account, which she did on March 20, 2020.

Prosecutors said he also defrauded six other victims of $26,000. We do not identify any victims, and the release does not say who posed as the oil rig worker.

The person convicted and his status

Timothy Wadsworth, 35, of Rochester, New York. Convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering. On Oct. 23, 2026, U.S. District Judge Frank P. Geraci Jr. sentenced him to 51 months in prison and ordered him to pay $810,965.19 in restitution. He was also ordered to forfeit wire fraud proceeds; the release gives that figure as $810,956.19, slightly different from the restitution amount [1]. The release does not say when or how he was convicted.

The FBI, IRS Criminal Investigation, the New York State Department of Financial Services and the New York State Department of Labor investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Katelyn M. Hartford prosecuted [1]. The co-conspirators are not named in the release (status pending).

Why the romance piece matters

Romance scammers overseas often need a U.S. bank account to receive victims' money. The person who owns that account may never talk to the victim. That's why romance victims are frequently told to wire money to a stranger's name, described as a friend, agent or business partner. If you're asked to send money to someone other than the person you've been talking to, treat it as a warning sign.

Red flags

Romance scams:

• An online love interest who works somewhere hard to verify, such as an oil rig, ship or overseas military post.
• Requests for travel money, fees or emergencies before you've ever met.
• Instructions to wire money to a third party's account.

Card fraud:

• Charges from unfamiliar merchants, especially small "test" charges followed by larger ones.

Benefits fraud:

• Letters about unemployment benefits or business loans you never applied for, which can mean your identity was used.

What to do if you're targeted

1. Never send money to someone you have only met online, and never to an account in another person's name.
2. Check your card statements often, set up transaction alerts and report unknown charges to your card issuer right away.
3. If you get mail about benefits or loans you didn't apply for, report it to the agency and at IdentityTheft.gov.
4. Report romance scams and fraud to the FBI at IC3.gov and the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
5. Older adults and families can call the National Elder Fraud Hotline at 1-833-372-8311.

Case status (as of Oct. 27, 2026)

Defendant	Court	Status	Source
Timothy Wadsworth, 35, of Rochester, N.Y.	U.S. District Court, W.D.N.Y. (Judge Frank P. Geraci Jr.)	Convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering; sentenced Oct. 23, 2026, to 51 months and $810,965.19 restitution	[1]

Statuses can change. Unnamed co-conspirators: status pending.

Sources

1. U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of New York, "Rochester man going to prison for conspiring to defraud victims, including taxpayers, of more than $2,000,000 and money laundering," Oct. 23, 2026. https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdny/pr/rochester-man-going-prison-conspiring-defraud-victims-including-taxpayers-more-2000000

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