EAST ST. LOUIS -- A 32-year-old Nigerian resident is facing federal charges in the U.S. for targeting hundreds of women, including dozens of residents of the St. Louis area, to extort money from them.
Olayinka Ilumsa Sunmola pleaded guilty to eight counts of a federal indictment. Sunmola was indicted by a grand jury in Illinois on charges of mail fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy and interstate extortion on Nov. 20, 2013.
Sunmola seduced women online by using accounts, photos and names of real American men. He sent flowers, candies, stuffed animals and more to his victims, convincing each woman that she was his true love. Once the women were convinced of Sunmola's love for them, he would request money from them in increasing increments.
One woman found herself arrested and jailed because she innocently cashed stolen checks for Sunmola. Another woman testified that Sunmola recorded her performing sexual acts on a video. He then threatened to publish the video online if she and her family didn't meet his demands for money. Indictment documents state that Sunmola told the woman she would want to kill herself when he was done with her.
Sentencing has been set for June 17, 2016. Sunmola faces a maximum of 125 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for each of the eight counts he faces.
Sunmola was arrested on Aug. 9, 2014, at London Heathrow Airport when he was traveling to South Africa.
“Basically, the evidence established that Sunmola, a citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, was the ringleader of a criminal organization operating within South Africa that targeted and stole from hundreds of women across the United States, including dozens in the St. Louis metropolitan area,” noted Acting United States Attorney James Porter. “Our office will continue to pursue justice for these victims in Sunmola’s prison sentence and in our never-ending efforts to get restitution.”
