KINGSTON, Jamaica — A Jamaican male student athlete at Southern University in New Orleans, was last week Friday charged for his alleged involvement in lottery scamming.

United States Attorney Duane Evans announced that 26-year-old Alex Saunders was charged with one-count Bill of Information with Conspiracy to Commit Mail and Wire Fraud.

“According to the charging document, prior to August 2013, and continuing to in or around December 2015, Andre Bowyer and co-conspirators known and unknown to the United States Attorney employed false representations and promises in order to fool elderly persons and persons suffering from diminished mental capacities into sending funds via United States mail, private mail carrier, or through an electronic transfer to Saunders, Debra Krom and other co-conspirators known and unknown to the United States attorney,” said a statement from the United States Attorney’s Office of Eastern District, Louisiana.

It is reported that after receiving victims’ funds through United States mail, private mail carrier, or through an electronic transfer, Saunders, Krom, and other co-conspirators who allegedly knew that the money they received was obtained through false and fraudulent pretences, did “knowingly and intentionally” transfer the stolen money to one of Bowyer’s bank accounts in Jamaica.

If convicted, Saunders faces a maximum term of five years imprisonment, a fine of not more than US$250,000, supervised release of three years, and a special assessment of US$100.

The case was investigated by the United States Secret Service, the United States Postal Inspection Service, and the United States Department of Homeland Security Investigations.