BETTENDORF, Iowa — A woman pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges in Davenport for allegedly duping a former flame out of more than $100,000 in child support payments for a baby she never actually had.
Johna Loreen Vandemore pleaded guilty this week to federal mail fraud charge and could get up to 20 years in prison when she is sentenced in March, the Quad-City Times reported (http://bit.ly/1zceNek ).
According to court records, Vandemore met the victim, who now lives in a Minneapolis suburb, on an online dating website in 2007 and they got together at least twice shortly thereafter. She contacted him several months after their last meeting and told him she was pregnant. She refused the man's request for a paternity test and said a test would lead to her filing a child support claim in court.
Vandemore convinced him to send her $1,000 per month as an alternative to a court-ordered child support for their fictional daughter. She sent him a fake birth certificate and pictures of her cousin's daughter, saying that they were of their child, according to prosecutors.
Bettendorf Detective Jeff Buckles said Thursday that the victim's wife started "doing some digging of her own and found some inconsistencies."
The wife hired a private investigator who ultimately contacted the Bettendorf Police Department about the case. The Minnesota man quit sending money to Vandemore after he learned that the child didn't exist.
