An Oklahoma prisoner who authorities say masterminded a scheme to extort about $674,000 from a retired Connecticut school teacher has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison.
Darrik Forsythe, 37, and other inmates, using cellphones smuggled into Lawton Correctional Facility, befriended the victim through an phone-based chat lines and extorted money from him by threatening to reveal that he was gay or threatening to harm relatives, according to federal authorities.
Federal officials said the victim contacted law enforcement after depleting his family’s $670,000 inheritance, for which he served as the custodian, and he committed suicide in 2014.
Forsythe pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud on April 30, 2014 and he was sentenced on March 13.
A spokesman for the Connecticut U.S. attorney's office says the federal sentence will be served when Forsythe's 20-year state sentence ends in 2020.
