Colorado man sentenced to federal prison for role in money laundering conspiracy

The United States Attorney's Office for the District of Colorado says a man has been sentenced to federal prison for conspiring to commit money laundering, according to a press release.  

According to court documents, Jason Lee Henderson, 36, formerly of Wray will serve two years behind bars and will serve three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $400,858.07 in restitution. The court also imposed a forfeiture money judgment in the amount of $399,452.

From March 2020, until October 2020, Henderson was part of a conspiracy to launder funds obtained from a government official impersonation scheme, according to a plea agreement. 

The plea agreement reveals, victims in the United States were contacted by telephone and coerced into believing they were under investigation by "agents" of federal law enforcement agencies including the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration. 

Conspirators told these victims that their identities had been connected to a criminal incident, they're imminent arrest or deportation from the United States had been ordered by law enforcement and the only way to avoid detainment was to pay the "government" large sums of money, as instructed.  

The victims were instructed to withdraw cash from bank accounts and mail cash to various addresses, which turned out to be Walgreens stores in northeastern Colorado.  

Henderson was paid to use fake identification cards to pick up victims' packages of cash mailed to the Walgreens stores in Colorado. The government has identified 57 victims who in total have lost over $7.5 million through this scheme. 

Of the $7.5 million collected, $1.6 million in cash was mailed to Colorado.  

Video surveillance from the stores and text messages from the defendant's phone tied him to specific fake identification cards used to pick up the packages.

United States District Court Judge Raymond P. Moore sentenced Henderson on Thursday. 

This investigation is being conducted jointly with investigators from the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General, United States Postal Inspection Service and various other law enforcement and government agencies.