Sentenced to Five Years

Tyra Arnett Green, 50, and Amanda Eastman, 24, both of Houston, were sentenced to five year federal prison terms Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Waco for their roles in a scheme to bilk an 89-year-old Waco woman out of her life’s savings.

The women were each sentenced to 30 months in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and 30 months for wire fraud.

U.S. District Judge also fined both women $1,000 and ordered that each serve three years under supervised release after completing their sentences.

Green, Eastman and a third defendant, Louis Dickerson, 59, of Houston, each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of wire fraud, acting U.S. Attorney John Murphy said Wednesday.

Dickerson will be sentenced next month.

Police said the victim was approached by a woman holding a black bag as she got out of her car around 11 a.m. on Feb. 5 in the parking lot of the H-E-B store at 1301 Wooded Acres in Waco.

The woman asked the victim if the bag was hers and then explained that it contained a large amount of cash, police said.

She convinced the elderly victim that a reward would be paid for return of the money, but that both would each have to put up about $23,000 of their own money to get it, police said.

The victim drove to her bank and withdrew $10,000, which she gave to the woman who told her she needed to come up with even more cash, police said.