Canadian Man Pleads Guilty To Minnesota Phone Scam

HASTINGS (AP) - A Canadian citizen has pleaded guilty to a phone scam in Minnesota.

The Dakota County Attorney's office says 35-year-old Robert Attias of Miami pleaded guilty Monday to one count of theft by swindle.

Attias was accused in 2011 of stealing $15,525 from senior citizens in Hastings, Glencoe, St. Paul, Olmsted County and Steele County.

According to a criminal complaint, Attias would call elderly Minnesotans claiming to be their grandson in need of money for bail following an arrest. That call was sometimes followed by another in which he or another person he was working with would claim to be a lawyer and tell the senior citizens where to send the money.

Sentencing is set for Jan. 10.