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Over Eight Years in Prison for iCare Founder Who Ran Prisoner Gift Basket Scam

Loaded on Aug. 1, 2025 by Chuck Sharman published in Prison Legal News August, 2025, page 40
Filed under: Honest Services Fraud, Taxation Offenses, Fraud and Theft Loss. Location: United States of America.

Robert Rahrle, who took millions of dollars online selling gift baskets for prisoners that were never delivered, was sentenced to a 100-month federal prison term for wire fraud and tax evasion on June 2, 2025. The federal court for the Northern District of New York also ordered him to serve three years of supervised release and pay a $2 million judgment, plus $178,651 to the IRS.

The judgment amount reflects the volume of fraudulent business that prosecutors estimate Rahrle conducted through the firm, iCare Gifting Solutions LLC, which the 35-year-old founded and ran from 2017 to 2024. An additional amount of restitution remains to be determined for hundreds of scam victims, who paid $50 each for gift baskets that they intended to send prisoners, but which were never received. 

Originally charged in Florida, where he lives, Rahrle was then indicted in New York, where he ran what he admitted was a scam, in a plea agreement entered in January 2025. His 60-month sentence for evading taxes on the stolen funds will run concurrently with his longer wire fraud term. See: United States v. Rahrle, USDC (N.D.N.Y.), Case No. 5:24-cr-00183.  

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