Romance scammer jailed and ordered to pay $1.2m back to victim

Rotimi Oladimeji, 38, and two other co-conspirators spotted victim on ‘Silver Singles’ dating site

A Texas man scammed a Missouri woman out of $1.2m on a dating site was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to repay the money (SilverSingles.com)

A Texas man who posed as a vet and scammed a woman he met on the “Silver Singles” dating site out of $1.2m was sentenced to three years in prison.

Rotimi Oladimeji, 38, and two other co-conspirators spotted the victim on the dating site and posed as a Belgian veterinarian and animal behaviourist living in St Louis, according to prosecutors.

Despite making plans through the dating app for people above the age of 50, they never met in person, once leaving the victim waiting at the Missouri Botanical Garden.

The group then told the victim that they needed the money as the vet was being prevented from leaving the United Arab Emirates where they had travelled for a business deal.

Federal prosecutors say that the victim lost around $1.2m in the fraud. Oladimeji received just 20 per cent of the money but is responsible for fully paying back the victim unless he can get his two co-defendants to reimburse her.

Nigerian-born Oladimeji faces deportation after his release from prison, says the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri.

Missouri Botanical Gardens (Getty Images)

He was sentenced a year after he pleaded guilty to two counts of mail fraud, two counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud.

Olumide Akrinmade and Adewale Adesanya also have pleaded guilty to federal charges. Akrinmade was sentenced to 15 months in prison and ordered to repay $46,500.

Adesanya was sentenced to four years in prison and ordered to repay $1.5m for various fraud schemes.