United States Attorney Erica MacDonald announced the guilty
pleas of OTIS RAY MAYS, 26, to charges of wire fraud and receipt of child
pornography. MAYS, who was charged in two separate indictments on March 12,
2019, entered his guilty plea on October 3, 2019, before Judge Eric C. Tostrud
in U.S. District Court in St. Paul, Minnesota. A sentencing date for MAYS has
not yet been scheduled.
According to the defendant’s guilty plea and documents filed
in court, in May of 2017, a husband and wife went to the Hennepin County
Government Center to seek advice about how to evict tenants from a rental
property they owned. MAYS approached the couple and falsely stated that he was
a lawyer and offered to help them with the eviction of tenants. MAYS later told
the couple that their son, a college student, had downloaded to his computer
videos that had been “pirated.” In exchange for a $305,000 payment to the owner
of the rights in those videos, MAYS claimed he could resolve any legal
difficulties arising from the allegedly pirated videos. The victim couple, at
MAYS’s direction, purchased a $305,000 cashier’s check, payable to a
Minneapolis lawyer, who in turn paid MAYS.
MAYS also impersonated a lawyer on other occasions, and in total stole
more than $340,000 from the victim couple.
According to the defendant’s guilty plea and documents filed
in court, on November 20, 2017, and on December 1, 2017, MAYS transferred to
his laptop computer a total of nine video files depicting a minor engaged in
sexually explicit conduct.
These cases are the result of an investigation conducted by
the FBI, the Bloomington Police Department, and the Richfield Police
Department.
These cases are being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney
John Docherty.
Defendant Information:
OTIS RAY MAYS, 26
Minneapolis, Minn.
Convicted:
Wire fraud, 1
count
Receipt of child
pornography, 1 count
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