How a Kirkwood octogenarian became an international money mule

Last year, Glenda Seim became the poster child no one wants to be: a senior who went from being the victim of a Nigerian scam artist to joining him in fraud. In November, the 81-year-old Kirkwood widow pleaded guilty to two felony charges alleging she was a “money mule” who assisted in fraudulent transactions totaling as much as $1.5 million.

Seim, who now lives in Webster Groves, was sentenced in federal court yesterday. And while sentencing guidelines called for four years in prison, even the prosecutor urged the judge to show mercy.

Seim, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Berry, had shown “extreme remorse,” not only repenting from her crimes but filming a public service video for the FBI. In it, Seim detailed falling in love with a man she’d never met — and ignoring friends, family members and even law enforcement when they sought to persuade her to stop sending him money and, ultimately, facilitating his fraud.

Seim knew, Berry wrote in court filings, that the video could open her up to “substantial public attention and ridicule.” But she did it to warn others.

https://news.stlpublicradio.org/show/st-louis-on-the-air/2022-02-24/how-a-kirkwood-octogenarian-became-an-international-money-mule