Delco man pleads guilty to scamming Lancaster County dog sellers for more than $366,000
Issa Jalloh, 26, of Darby, agreed to serve 18 to 36 months in state prison as part of a plea deal, Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday said.
A 26-year-old Delaware County man pleaded guilty Thursday to being the ringleader of a group that scammed dog sellers in Lancaster County for more than $366,000, using fraudulent checks and counterfeit cash to buy purebred and designer dogs that were then resold, Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday said.
Issa Jalloh, of Darby, agreed to pay $366,445 in restitution and serve 18 to 36 months in state prison followed by three years of probation, according to a plea deal he made with prosecutors, Sunday said.
“This defendant led a calculated criminal scheme to rake in huge profits based on transactions that he knew involved fake cash and checks,” Sunday said in a statement.
The case was filed in Lancaster County and covers criminal activity between December 2020 and August 2022, Sunday said. Jalloh pleaded guilty to felony counts of corrupt organization and criminal conspiracy to commit theft by unlawful taking.
Sunday said Jalloh and five others from the Philadelphia area conspired to purchase the dogs with fraudulent cashier’s checks and counterfeit currency from sellers mainly in Lancaster County, which is a major source of dog breeding in Pennsylvania.
According to police criminal complaints filed in 2022, the dogs were mainly French bulldog and Yorkshire terrier puppies, but included some Yorkie poo designer dogs, which are cross breeds of Yorkshire terriers and toy or miniature poodles.
