Woman charged in $100K theft

SANDUSKY — Police arrested an Arlington, Texas, woman for allegedly participating in a fraudulent Publishers Clearing House scheme to steal almost $100,000 from an elderly couple. On Jan. 29, deputies with the Erie County Sheriff's Office arrested Chinelle L. Ellis, 30, on a warrant and booked her into the Erie County Jail on a single charge of theft from a person in a protected class, a second-degree felony. Ellis was indicted by an Erie County grand jury on that single charge in July 2025. The alleged crimes occurred between June 2023 and July 2023. The next day, Ellis appeared in court for an arraignment where she pleaded not guilty, according to court records. As of late Monday, Ellis remains inside the Erie County Jail on a $30,000 bond. She has an upcoming court hearing scheduled for 11 a.m. on Feb. 24. Background The investigation into Ellis began on July 20, 2023, when an elderly couple went to the Erie County Sheriff's Office to file a police report, stating they had lost more than $80,000 to fraud. The couple told the detective that they first received a phone call on June 16, 2023, from 1-888-299-8082, believing it was from Publishers Clearing House and were told they were a second-place sweepstakes winner, according to a sheriff's office report. The couple informed the detective that, during the phone call, they spoke with someone who claimed to be the company's head chief manager and said they had won $18.5 million and a vehicle. The couple also stated that they spoke with several people who claimed to be involved in handling their winnings and were ultimately told they needed to send money to pay the taxes on those winnings, the report states. While at the sheriff's office, the couple provided the detective with a list of all the money they allegedly transferred over and where it went, according to the report: • On June 23, 2023, the couple transferred $2,955 to an unknown man by depositing cash into their bank account. • On June 24, 2023, the couple transferred $9,995 to Ellis by depositing money into their bank account and were told that she was located in Arlington, Texas. • On June 26, 2023, the couple sent $15,000 through FedEx due to allegedly being told by the scammers that it was illegal to send cash through the mail, so they would need to put the cash into the pockets of clothing and then mail the clothing over to an unknown man at an address in Concord, North Carolina. • On June 30, 2023, the couple withdrew a cashier's check for $28,000 to Ellis and mailed the cashier's check to Ellis at an address in the 2000 block of Cooper Corner Circle in Arlington, Texas. • On July 11, 2023, the couple withdrew a cashier's check for $43,000 to a limited liability company, which was mailed the following day to Ellis at the above-listed address in Arlington, Texas. • Additionally, the couple spent hundreds of dollars on shipping costs to send packages to the alleged scammers. Near the end of the interview, the couple also told the detective they had received mail from the scammers, including a fake check from Publishers Clearing House for $9 million and a fictitious letter from the IRS claiming the couple owed over $136,000 in taxes on their winnings. In total, the couple lost almost $100,000 from the scam, the report states. It's not clear whether any others have been, or will be, charged in relation to the alleged theft.