A Florida man who falsely posed as a physician to swindle hundreds of thousands of dollars from several women he met online, pleaded guilty Thursday.
Brian Brainard Wedgeworth, 46, stole approximately $750,000 from upwards of 20 different victims he’d met on dating sites in an alleged romance scam that spanned half a decade, according to a sweeping 25-count indictment obtained by Oxygen.com.
Wedgeworth, dubbed the “Casanova Scammer,” entered his plea before U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle Thursday morning, court document show.
Wedgeworth was originally arrested and charged in November 2021 on various charges including wire fraud, mail fraud, aggravated identity theft, and money laundering.
Federal prosecutors, who described Wedgeworth as a professional romance scammer, accused him of carrying out an elaborate scheme to fleece unsuspecting women in multiple cities and states across the country between 2016 and 2021.
According to the indictment, Wedgeworth went by more than a dozen aliases, targeting vulnerable women on multiple dating apps, including Plenty of Fish, Christian Mingle, Hinge, Bumble, and CoffeeMeetsBagel. Wedgeworth, who often dressed as a doctor in photos he shared online, also distributed fake physician business cards to further the ruse.
Authorities said he also falsely claimed to have attended or be affiliated with prominent universities and hospitals, including University of Pennsylvania, Duke University, John Hopkins…
