Man who romanced women in fraud scheme sentenced

The Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A man who admitted romancing 22 women in a scheme to steal money from banks was sentenced Monday to five years in federal prison without parole.

Ryan S. Blevins, 29, of Raytown in suburban Kansas City, pleaded guilty in December to wire fraud and bank fraud. In addition to the prison time, U.S. District Judge Fernando Gaitan Jr. ordered him to make restitution totaling $90,680.

U.S. Attorney Todd Graves said Blevins used the romantic or personal relationship he developed to steal checks, pass forged checks or receive wire transfers of stolen money. Graves said the scheme lasted from February 2001 until April of last year.

Graves said Blevins told the women he needed to deposit a check but did not have an account of his own. He said Blevins claimed the checks were paychecks, payments from selling cars, or money provided by friends or family members, but that they were stolen, forged or insufficiently funded.

Blevins got the women to deposit the checks into their own bank accounts, then asked them to give him cash, wire him money, or write a check, Graves said. The women provided Blevins with cash or written checks before they learned the checks deposited into their accounts were fraudulent or lacked sufficient funds.