A 73-year-old D.C. woman who authorities say moved in with a man she met on an online dating site and then persuaded him to invest over $400,000 in a phony investment scheme has been sentenced to 15 years in prison, according to the Montgomery County, Maryland, State’s Attorney’s Office.
On Friday, Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge John Maloney sentenced Janey Sears to 20 years in prison, with all but 15 years suspended. After her release, Sears will serve five years of supervised probation and was ordered to pay $406,954 in restitution at a rate of $10,000 per month.
She faced over 20 years in prison.
Sears, also known as Janay St. Clair and JaNay St. Clair-Sears, was convicted of securities fraud, misuse of funds by a fiduciary, and other crimes, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors claimed Sears spent $55,000 of the money on a 2022 Alfa Romeo Giulia, telling the guy, a federal employee, that her father had given her the car. She also gambled more than $100,000 at casinos such as MGM, Maryland Live, and Ocean Resort Casino in New Jersey.
On July 7, a jury convicted Sears of a $100,000 stealing conspiracy, securities fraud, and misappropriation of money by a fiduciary after 75 minutes of deliberation following a two-day trial.
“The defendant groomed the victim, gaining his trust and deceiving him into believing she was acting in his best interests,” authorities stated after her conviction in July.
Prosecutors claim Sears met the victim, a single federal employee in his fifties, on an online dating website in September 2019. According to prosecutors, Sears represented herself as a Harvard-educated entrepreneur who managed a transportation logistics company in Washington, D.C.
Following their first in-person meeting, Sears persuaded the man to allow her spend the nite at his Silver Spring house before eventually moving in in November 2019.
Prosecutors claim Sears then pushed the guy into doing some home improvements and suggested he seek a home equity line of credit to help pay for them. In May 2020, with Sears’ help, he received a $150,000 loan.
According to authorities, the following year, Sears told the individual that he could contribute money to a “investment pool” that would purchase Pfizer stock and potentially make him “financially independent.” Sears allegedly indicated that the chance would normally only be available to rich investors like her.
From August 2021 until May 2023, the guy made frequent payments to Sears, passing over money via checks, wire transfers, and cash, believing she was investing on his behalf.
But prosecutors claimed there was no investment pool. Instead, Sears put the funds into her own accounts.
In less than two years, the man made a total of $406,954.
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