Three Missouri women are among 60 people who have been indicted by a federal grand jury in Minnesota

Three Missouri women are among 60 people who have been indicted by a federal grand jury in Minnesota for their roles in a $300 million nationwide telemarketing fraud scheme that targeted elderly and vulnerable victims. The investigation that spanned several states and Canada identified as many as 150-thousand victims. The companies operated telemarketing call centers from which their employees made calls using deceptive sales scripts designed to defraud victim consumers by inducing them, through a series of lies and misrepresentations, into making large or repeat payments to the companies. 60-year-old Yvonne Patterson and 40-year-old Jessica Marie Prince of Thayer, and 56-year-old Bonnie Lee Colbert of Alton, are facing federal charges that include fraudulent magazine sales, mail fraud, and violating the SCAMS act.