A Virginia man, 76, has been held for the past year on trafficking charges.
WASHINGTON — Victor Stemberger wasn’t about to ignore the emails inviting him into a multimillion-dollar business opportunity, so he pitched himself as perfect for the job. In a way he was — but for all the wrong reasons.
The 76-year-old Virginia man, whose family says he has cognitive issues, accepted the offer and boasted of his credentials as “an experienced businessman who does what he says he will do, and executes flawlessly, according to plan.”
He apparently did follow the plan, but the execution wasn’t flawless.
Today Stemberger sits in a Spanish jail, one year after flying into the country with 2.4 kilograms (more than 5 pounds) of cocaine expertly sewn into bubble jackets in a bag. His family says he knew nothing about the drugs. Though Spanish authorities are dubious, the U. S. Justice Department has advised Spain that it believes Stemberger was duped into acting as a drug mule for a West Africa criminal network, and has asked the country for evidence it’s gathered, according to correspondence obtained by The Associated Press.
Federal officials have for years warned about scams that lure elderly Americans or those with diminished mental capacity — Stemberger had a significant brain injury nearly 15 years ago — into becoming drug couriers. The scams convince them that they’ll receive payouts if they travel or take some other requested action. The Department of Homeland Security in 2016 said immigration and border authorities had intercepted more than 140 unwitting couriers, some as old as 87, and that over 30 were believed to still be jailed.
“One of the common characteristics that we find in these scams is that oftentimes the senior is living alone, has lost a spouse and is lonely,” said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who leads the Senate Special Committee on Aging and helped secure the release of a Maine man jailed in Spain under similar circumstances as Stemberger.
Stemberger, who marks his one-year anniversary in Spanish detention on July 5, faces a trial next month in Madrid. His son says the only explanation for his father’s actions is that “these perpetrators really connected with our dad under the veil of what he thought was a legitimate business opportunity.
