KINGSTON, Jamaica — After pleading guilty in a Wisconsin, US court in June to defrauding more than 50 people of at least US$35,000, Jamaican O’Brian Junior Lynch was on Wednesday sentenced to five years imprisonment.

Twenty -eight-year-old Lynch who was a taxi driver in Montego Bay, is believed to be the first Jamaican convicted of participating in a lottery scam with roots in the island, according to the Journal Sentinel in Milwaukee.

The media report said that the prosecutor remarked that she hoped the sentence would be publicised in Jamaica and help deter other fraudsters.

Lynch has agreed to pay at least US$100,000 in restitution.

According to the Journal Sentinel, “Authorities said the number of victims is higher and the amount stolen may be as much as $400,000.”

Lynch faced a maximum of 20 years in prison, but both the prosecutor and defence attorney recommended the five-year term.

Lynch’s girlfriend also appeared in court on Wednesday with their infant child. As part of the plea negotiations, charges against her were dismissed, media reports say.

The Journal Sentinel reported that Lynch’s attorney, Daniel Meylink, said Lynch was recruited to make “easy money” to help his family.

“He assumed it was a victimless crime, that he was just moving numbers around,” Meylink said. “He didn’t appreciate that there were real live people who needed the money he was redirecting.”

One man, who the Journal Sentinel said was both a victim and helped Lynch victimise others, also appeared at the sentencing and told US District Judge JP Stadtmueller how he lost his wife, daughter and more than US$116,000 during months of manipulation by Lynch.

He said his wife left with the couple’s baby daughter because she thought the he was involved with a drug cartel and feared for her safety.

The man was identified only by his initials because according to his attorney, Susan Karaskiewicz, authorities fear Jamaican gangsters might seek retribution.

The Journal Sentinel further reported that the man, 58, said he cashed out his life insurance, got a loan against his 15-year-old car, sold his guns and borrowed from his sister to feed Lynch’s constant admonitions to pay fees, taxes and storage related to a US$5.2 million lottery prize — US$250,000 cash and two Mercedes-Benz cars Lynch convinced him he had coming.

The Federal Trade Commission says complaints about the Jamaican lottery scam have grown steadily in the past six years, rising to more than 29,220 in 2012, up from fewer than 2,000 in 2007.