CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The Kenyan woman who did most of the legwork in an international scam that targeted millions of dollars from state governments, including West Virginia's, said she was afraid that her handlers in Kenya would hurt her son if she didn't do what she was told.

Angella Chegge-Kraszeski's revelation came during a two-day sentencing hearing for two of her co-conspirators.

At the hearing's conclusion on Friday, U.S. District Judge John T. Copenhaver Jr. sentenced Michael "Mikie" Ochenge, 33, of Lakeville, Minn., to four years in prison, and Albert E. Gunga, 31, of Chanhassen, Minn., to 10 months in prison.

Both men pleaded guilty in May to conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Chegge-Kraszeski, 34, who was born in Kenya and lived in Raleigh, N.C., described how the scam was plotted in Kenya and how unidentified individuals approached her during a visit in late 2008.

"They said they had a business proposition, [that's] how they put it," she said Thursday.

She said she agreed to follow their instructions because she was afraid they would hurt her son, who still lives in Kenya.

"I was led to believe that my son was in danger," she said.

The scheme rerouted large payments from state governments to legitimate vendors by creating dummy corporations with names virtually identical to the real companies performing the work.

Using a fake South African passport, under the name of Christina Clay, provided by her Kenyan handlers, Chegge-Kraszeski incorporated the fake companies in North Carolina, and attempted to open bank accounts there under the real companies' names.

When a bank official asked for a second form of identification, which she did not have, her handlers referred her to Robert Otiso, another Kenyan native living in Minnesota, to help set up new bank accounts.

Otiso recruited Ochenge, who in turn recruited Paramena Shikenda, who knew someone who worked at a local bank, which would make it easier to set up the accounts and wire money to Kenya without attracting suspicion.

"[Ochenge] knew how to go about it, and that's why we enlisted him," Chegge-Kraszeski said.

In late March 2009, a $919,916 payment from West Virginia, intended for Deloitte Consulting as payment for consulting services for the state's Department of Health and Human Resources, arrived in a fake account. This initiated a flurry of wire transfers to various banks in Nairobi between March 26 and April 1, in which a total of more than $772,000 was diverted offshore.

Chegge-Kraszeski said that she and the other conspirators in the U.S. were shocked when they realized how much money was involved in the scheme.

That's when Ochenge demanded up to $100,000 for his role in the scam, she said. Otiso said he expected the scam's organizers to put $20,000 into a bank account in Kenya.

"They told me I was going to receive money in Kenya, but I never received any," he said.

Otiso said he didn't know of any danger posed to Chegge-Kraszeski or her family.

"I think she was going to get something," he said. "She wasn't doing it for free."

In addition to Shikanda, Ochenge recruited Gunga and Collins A. Masese to open fake bank accounts, so that he could launder $70,000 in cashier's checks provided to him by Chegge-Kraszeski.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan Robinson described Ochenge as "something of a manipulator."

"He is an educated man. He has had significant advantages, yet he has engaged in fraudulent conduct," she said.

Troy Giatras, who represented Ochenge, and Tom Price, who represented Gunga, asked Copenhaver to consider lesser sentences for their clients, since they were less culpable than the people who actually stole the money, the scam's masterminds in Kenya.

The scheme rerouted $919,916 from West Virginia, with an additional $1,288,037 stolen from Massachusetts, $869,546 from Kansas and $301,571 from Ohio, but the money from those states was recovered before the conspirators could wire the money offshore.

Chegge-Kraszeski, the first conspirator to get caught, is scheduled to be sentenced by Copenhaver on Tuesday.

Last week, Copenhaver sentenced Otiso to six years in prison. Shikanda was sentenced to 46 months in prison, and Masese was sentenced to 9 months, which he has already served.

All of the defendants will likely be deported after they have served their prison sentences.

Reach Andrew Clevenger at acleven...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1723.