A federal judge described a Florida woman as “unspeakably cruel” before sentencing her to prison for stealing an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor’s savings, while pretending to have a romantic interest in him.
AP reports that U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos sentenced 36-year-old Peaches Stergo to over four years in prison Thursday, during a sentencing hearing at the Manhattan federal court in New York. She pleaded guilty earlier this year to one count of wire fraud.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Stergo met the victim on a dating website six or seven years ago, prosecutors said. Beginning in May 2017 until at least October 2021, she methodically took his life savings, equalling more than $2.8 million.
“Peaches Stergo callously defrauded an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor who was simply looking for companionship,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said. “But she did not get away with it. As today’s sentence demonstrates, perpetrators of romance scams will be held to account for their crimes.”
According to the US Attorney’s Office, Stergo’s first requested to borrow money to pay her lawyers, who she said was not releasing funds from an injury settlement. She told the victim that the settlement money had been deposited into her bank after he gave her funds, but bank records show that never happened.
“Over the next four and a half years, Stergo continued her lies,” prosecutors said. “She repeatedly demanded that the Victim deposit money into her bank accounts. She claimed that if he did not, her accounts would be frozen and he would never be paid back. In total, the Victim wrote 62 checks — totaling over $2.8 million — that were deposited into one of two of STERGO’s bank accounts.”
She also created a fake email account which she used to pretend to be a bank employee.
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Stergo agreed to pay $2,830,775 in restitution “and to forfeit the same amount,” along with multiple luxury items she bought with the money to took from the victim.
“I’m sorry,” she told the judge at Thursday’s hearing.
Prosecutors declined to disclose the victim’s identity, but he reportedly has numerous health issues, including cognitive decline, according to AP.
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[Feature Photo: Peaches Stergo/US Department of Justice]
Additional reporting by KC Wildmoon
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