By the Associated Press
A federal grand jury in West Virginia has linked five more people to an international scam that allegedly tricked government agencies in several states into paying at least $3.3 million to bogus companies with names that sounded like legitimate firms.
The charges unsealed Tuesday implicate Minnesota residents Michael M. “Mikie” Ochenge, 33; Robert M. “Robe” Otiso, 36; Paramena J. “Joseph” Shikanda, 35; Albert E. Gunga, 30; and Collins A. Masese, 20.
All were born in Kenya and live in or near Minneapolis, prosecutors said. All but Masese were in custody Tuesday, and scheduled to appear before a U.S. magistrate judge in Minneapolis.
The felony counts allege Ochenge, Otiso and Shikanda helped devise a scheme that exploited increasing reliance on the Internet by both the public and private sectors to conduct business.
Posing as businesses that provide services to state agencies, the conspirators tricked officials between March and July into giving them money owed to the legitimate vendors, the indictment says.
