Carlisle Police say a scam artist in Nigeria targeted a woman in town, and had she fallen for it and cashed the fake money orders, Leslie Archambeault would be out more than a $100,000.

They seem endless – rows of money orders spread out on the Carlisle Police Department floor.

“I have been in contact with different agencies that this is going on all around in the area,” said Officer Mark Snedegar.

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The scam is the same said Snedegar – asked to cash a money order, you keep some, but mail the rest to the scammer. Only the money order is bogus and you’re out the cash you sent to scammer.

Except this time, Snedegar said he’s never seen some 80 money orders sent to just one person.

“He definitely abused my trust,” said Leslie, who, if she would have complied, would have lost $132,000.

“He posed as someone being nice and we became friends and he told me he loved me and he had a job that I could make $300 a month on,” said Leslie.

Her relationship with the man started a year ago in a chat room. She said he’s from Nigeria, and Thursday, he mailed her the brown-paper package, too suspicious-looking not to give police.

“If you don’t know the person, don’t even associate with them, especially when they start talking money or your social security number or your date of birth or anything like that,” said Officer Snedegar.

Archambeault cut all ties with the scammer and limits her time online to doing school work. Officer Snedegar’s work is with State Police and the Secret Service to try and crack this case.

Snedegar says real money orders or checks have a watermark. Fake ones don’t and the Nigerian connection is also a tipoff that it’s a scam.

Two men involved in a scheme that paid more than $30 million in bribes and kickback for federal contracts pled guilty to federal charges, federal investigators said Thursday.

Kerry Khan, a former program manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, pled guilty to charges of bribery and conspiracy to commit money laundering, according to the Justice Department. His son, Lee Khan, pled guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

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The Khans were among four men arrested in October after federal investigators uncovered a scheme that allegedly steered millions in government work to contractors and planned to steer a government contract potentially worth $780 million.

According to a grand jury indictment issued by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Kerry Khan and Army Corps of Engineers program director Michael Alexander had conspired since 2007 with an official at Virginia-based EyakTek, a subsidiary of Alaska Native-owned Eyak Corp., to funnel more than $45 million in payments to EyakTek subcontractor Nova Datacom.

About $20 million in fraudulent expenses were built into the invoices, and payments on those expenses went to Khan, Alexander, EyakTek contracts director Harold Babb, and Lee Khan, according to the indictment.

The indictment said the men devised a similar scheme for a future Army Corps IT contract worth up to $780 million by tailoring the statement of objectives and statement of work to favor Nova Datacom and by planting on the selection board certain Army Corps employees who would favor the subcontractor.

“This investigation demonstrates that there is no tolerance for criminal activity by federal employees who hold positions of trust in the federal contracting process,” Small Business Administration Inspector General Peggy Gustafson said in a news release. The SBA worked with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and Federal Bureau of Investigation on the case.

Kerry Khan’s bribery charge carries a statutory maximum of 15 years in prison and the conspiracy charge carries up to 20 years of incarceration, according to the Justice Department.

The charges also carry potential fines, an order of restitution, and the forfeiture of $11,082,687 in cash and property, including more than $1.4 million in bank account funds, 13 properties in Virginia, Florida, and West Virginia, and a 2011 GMC Yukon Denali truck, the Justice Department said in a news release. Kerry Khan has previously forfeited about $600,000 in bank account funds and four luxury automobiles.

As part of his plea agreement, Lee Khan agreed to forfeit his interest in more than $1 million in bank account funds, 13 properties in Virginia, Florida, and West Virginia, and a Rolex watch, according to the Justice Department.

Alexander and Babb pled guilty to charges in the case earlier this year. Nova Datacom’s former executive vice president Theodoros Hallas pled guilty in October to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

The government has already seized or recovered approximately $7.5 million in bank account funds, cash, and repayments, 19 real properties, six luxury cars, and multiple pieces of fine jewelry, according to the Justice Department.

A Watchung man was arrested Thursday on a 16-count indictment that alleges he ran a real estate investment scheme that netted at least $9 million, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

David Connolly, 50, was indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury on one count of securities fraud, five counts of mail fraud, three counts of wire fraud and seven counts of money laundering.

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Connolly is expected to appear Thursday afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael A. Shipp, in Newark federal court.

In a parallel investigation, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed on Thursday civil charges against Connolly for securities fraud, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman said.

The investigation alleges that from at least 2006 through October 2009, Connolly orchestrated a real estate investment fraud scheme in which he took in more than $50 million from more than 200 victims, causing losses of at least $9 million.

To induce victims to invest, Connolly made various types of materially false and misleading statements and omissions, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

He allegedly told victims their money would be used to purchase a specific property, and the property would generate rental income that would be used to pay investors monthly distributions, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Connolly also allegedly told victims their money would be held in escrow until the closing of a purported real estate transaction and each property would be financially independent from all the others, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Connolly misrepresented the amount of equity victims had in the properties, the condition of the properties, and the financial performance of the properties, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Connolly is accused of taking significant portions of his victims’ money, which had been provided for specific real estate transactions, and used it for other purposes, without disclosing the diversions of funds to victims, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

These included funding unrelated real estate transactions in which Connolly was engaged; paying prior victims; and paying himself, the U.S. Attorney’s Office alleges.

The scheme collapsed in the summer of 2009, after Connolly began to default on the mortgage payments for the investment properties, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

If convicted of the securities fraud charge, Connolly faces a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a $5 million fine. If convicted on the mail fraud or wire fraud charges, Connolly faces a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

He also faces a maximum potential penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the money laundering charges.

Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael B. Ward in Newark, for the investigation leading to the indictment.

It all started from a complaint lodged by an unnamed county employee in early April.

The complaint accused a county contractor employed by the Linn County Auditor, whose job was to fix a broken software system, was lying about the amount of time he spent working on the county’s dime.

Because the Linn County Board of Supervisors launched the investigation on the alleged fraud nearly a month after the initial incident, the embattled Linn County Auditor Joel Miller, said the board is trying to smear him before the June 5 Democratic primary, where he faces heavy opposition.

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However, Linn County Supervisor John Harris said it’s purely a coincidence.

“I would acknowledge that the timing is inconvenient for the auditor, however the timing is the timing,” he said. “When these issues are investigated they are kept quiet and they take time.”

Still, the auditor believes he has more reason to suspect that the investigation is politically motivated.

He said since he’s provided materials documenting what amounts to be the contractor’s time cards, the investigation has changed focus from whether the contractor essentially lied about time spent working, to whether the length of time the contractor worked was appropriate for what he got done with his time.

“Now there is no question — he was here for forty hours, but now it’s what did he do for those 40 hours,” he said.

He said this is further evidence of a political motivation. Miller said its unfair for the investigation to turn to whether the contractor’s time was used effectively, because this same test would have to be applied to each of Linn County’s over 800 employees.

“I don’t think they are willing to apply this to every employee of the county,” he said.

Harris emphasized that the board of supervisors is not in direct control of the investigation, which is currently being handled by Linn County Compliance Officer, Steve Tucker.

He said the board likely won’t be privy to the details of the ongoing investigation until it Tucker gives a finished report to the board, which might not happen until late June, at the latest