A 79-year-old mule ordered to repay $1.97 million she never kept
Sharon Dolisi, 79, of Phelps County, Missouri, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud after depositing more than $2 million from 28 lottery scam victims into her own bank accounts and supplying debit cards to co-conspirators in Jamaica, who withdrew the money. In June 2026 a federal judge sentenced her to three years of probation rather than prison, and ordered her to repay $1.97 million in restitution.
- Year
- 2026
- Where
- United States, Jamaica
- Outcome
- Sentenced
- Reported loss
- $2.0 million
- Victims
- 28
- Schemes
- Money mule recruitment, Prize, lottery and sweepstakes scams
- Last reviewed
- 2026-09-09
The facts, as recorded
- Sharon Dolisi, 79, of Phelps County near St. James, Missouri, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.
- Between approximately 21 April 2023 and 11 June 2025, she deposited cashier's cheques and personal cheques from 28 victims — most of them elderly — into her personal bank accounts.
- Victims had been told by phone or text that they had won a lottery, but needed to prepay "taxes" and "fees" to "intermediates" and "merchant bankers"; some were told to take out reverse mortgages or home equity loans to raise the money.
- Dolisi supplied debit cards linked to her accounts to co-conspirators in Jamaica, who used them to withdraw the victims' money.
- One bank closed her account after her first deposit; she continued the same activity at other institutions.
- On 28 October 2024 she made false statements to law enforcement, denying she was sending or receiving money from other people and falsely claiming she bought and sold gold for banks.
- U.S. District Judge Joshua M. Divine sentenced her on 25 or 26 June 2026 to three years of probation and ordered $1.97 million in restitution.
- Aaron McCullough, acting special agent in charge at HUD's Office of Inspector General, said Dolisi "accepted and transmitted money from vulnerable elderly victims under false pretenses," and that "many elderly victims lost their entire life savings."
Why this case matters
Every other case on this page involves someone who understood, at some point, that they were laundering stolen money. Dolisi’s sentence — probation, not prison, despite a $2 million scheme — is the clearest signal in any case on this site of how differently the law treats a mule who appears to have been used rather than complicit.
The mechanics were ordinary
Nothing about the method was sophisticated. Cheques arrived, she deposited them, and debit cards linked to the resulting balance went to people in Jamaica who withdrew the cash before a bank could claw it back. This is the same lottery and prize scam structure documented elsewhere on this site, with Dolisi’s accounts as the part that turned a scam call into money the fraudsters could actually spend.
One closed account, and a continuation
A bank closed her account after the first deposit — the exact kind of institutional red flag this site’s other pages describe as a scam’s best chance of being interrupted. Dolisi’s response, according to the government, was to continue the same activity elsewhere rather than stop.
The false statements
On 28 October 2024, more than a year into the conduct, she told investigators she was not sending or receiving money from other people, and separately claimed she bought and sold gold for banks. Neither was true. That she still received probation rather than prison indicates how much weight the sentencing court gave to her age and apparent lack of the kind of active, structured role seen in cases like Ogiekpolor’s.
The caveat
Dolisi pleaded guilty and has been sentenced; this is a concluded case rather than an unproven allegation. The $1.97 million restitution order does not mean victims will recover that amount — much of the money had already left her accounts, and eventually the country, before investigators traced it.
Sources
- 79-year-old woman admits to being money mule in $2 million scam. ABC 17 News (KMIZ). Accessed 2026-09-09. Supports: Dolisi's age, location, the guilty plea, the 28 victims, the deposit and withdrawal method, the lottery-fee pretext, the reverse-mortgage detail, the closed bank account, and the false statements to law enforcement.
- A 79-Year-Old Money Mule Moved $1.9 Million In Lottery Scam Proceeds. She Got Probation. Yahoo News. Accessed 2026-09-09. Supports: The sentencing date, the three years of probation, the $1.97 million restitution figure, the sentencing judge's name, and the quote from Aaron McCullough.