You may of watched on Netflix either the Tinder Swindler or Inventing Anna, but have you heard of another lesser known alleged villain Brian Wedgeworth also known as the “Casanova Scammer” who allegedly manipulated women whom were only looking for a shot at love. Wedgeworth would charm victims by pretending to be a doctor and make promises to pay the victim’s debts but in turn would receive gifts of money, jewelry and other items from the victims.
The original federal indictment indicates that Brian Wedgeworth also known by many other names to include Dr. Brian Anderson, Dr. Anthony Watkins, Dr. Brian Adams, Dr. Edward Chen, Dr. Brian Chris, Dr. Chris Williamson, Dr. Brian Williamson, Dr. Brian Edmonds, Dr. Brian Ammerson, Dr. Brian Lamar Wilson, Dr. Mims, and Dr. Brian Sims (lol did you catch all that). Wedgeworth would go on numerous online dating sites to include Plenty of Fish, Match.com, Christian Mingle, Hinge, The League, Bumble and numerous others. Side note, I have been on a couple of these sites and by far I have had the worse experience on Plenty of Fish. I promise you in the area where I live there were so many criminals literally still in prison, jail or work release looking for whatever. Sometime between October 2016 and March 2021 using the numerous alias Brian would post on the dating sites with pictures of him dressed up like a doctor and telling women he was a doctor. I’ll be honest if you on Plenty of fish and a alleged doctor its already a red flag. When Brian would meet dates, he would provide them with a business card to show that he was a doctor. He would tell his dates that He was associated with the Fellow of the American Surgeons and he had either attended or had been affiliated with well-known universities such as Duke, John Hopkins, Harvard Medical School, and others. So basically, Brian had high ambition while perpetrating the role of a doctor. Brian Wedgeworth was able to allegedly develop relationships with approximately 21 victims from Florida, California, Texas, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and Maryland. This man was busy. So, if someone ever tells you they don’t have time for you remember this story. This man made time for numerous ladies.
When he met the women, he told them he did not want them to have debt and that he could help them financially and would offer to pay off their loans and other debts. So, a really cat daddy. The women provided Brian with their banking and loan information to include account numbers, logins, passwords, their own identifiers such as social security numbers. Brian would then send electronic payments to the women’s credit card companies, mortgage lenders, student loan services and other creditors. However, the payments were made using bank accounts that had insufficient fund and were previously closed. Moral of the story ask for cash. Cash is king. The women would initially receive notice from the lender or creditor saying that payments had been made in full and their account was satisfied. However, prior to the payment clearing Brian would provide a lie to the victims saying he no longer had money to pay towards his medical practice or other made-up debt and that his bank accounts were frozen due to a medical malpractice lawsuit.
The victims would then withdraw cash, wire transfer money, and write checks from their bank accounts and then deposit into the name of Brian Wedgeworth, whom he told the victims was his business partner. If the victim did not have enough money in their bank, Brian would ask them to take out a loan. He also convinced the victims to buy him jewelry and watches including Rolexes claiming he would pay them back. Brian would also add himself as an authorized card user on some of the victims’ cards (remember the victims gave him all the login information) he would then ask for credit increases, and obtained cash advances. Without their permission. Brian would then allegedly use these funds to purchase Rolex watches and tickets to sporting events.
To put some context and history behind Brian Wedgeworth, this is not this man’s first time doing this, he was also arrested in 2005 for larceny in Georgia and then again in 2013 for a similar crime of 2 counts of forgery, identity fraud, and driving while license suspended and was sentenced on 06/25/2014 to five years prison on one of the forgery charges followed by probation. So according to Georgia Department of Corrections he was released from prison to probation on 2/15/2017. This potentially means he was committing these offenses while in custody due to the fact that the federal indictment states that the crimes started approximately in 2016.
One of the victims Tekesia Johnson whom at the time resided in Jacksonville, Florida. found out about his previous conviction and confronted Brian about it. Brian decided to double down and told the victim that he was actually working for the federal government undercover and he needed to become incarcerated in order to catch correctional officers who were committing criminal acts. Brian allegedly tells the victim that the media reports that the victim heard about him being the “Casanova Scammer” were only a part of his cover story. He also stated that as part of the undercover story he could not practice medicine until he was finished his undercover work.
On November 19, 2019, Brian Wedgeworth was arrested for parole violation and placed back in prison on February 6, 2020 and released finally on October 27/2020. About a year later on October 26, 2021 at the age of 46, Brian Wedgeworth, was indicted on federal charges of wire fraud, mail fraud, aggravated identity theft, and money laundering and was arrested on federal charges on November 4 2021. Prior to his arrest it is alleged he was able to obtain $750,000 in funds and property.
Wedgeworth pled guilty and is scheduled to be Sentenced on Aug 8. in Tallahassee federal court. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison for wire fraud and mail fraud counts, up to 10 years in prison for the money laundering counts, and a minimum mandatory sentence of 2 years in prison, consecutive to any other imprisonment that might be imposed, for the aggravated identity theft count.
Takeaways from this case:
If it is too good to be true, it probably is. Always do your due diligence and research on who you are meeting up with. Cash is King. Do not take out loans and wire people that you don't really know money. If you have to buy love, is it even love or even worth your time.
