Scroll Down to see letter David Sartin to internet scam watch.
Hundreds of men are taken for a ride by Ukrainian and Russian women.
Before his life spun out of control, the small-framed man was living thriftily. His only income came from a disability check following two surgeries on his back which he injured while installing loading dock equipment, relatives said.
By Cindy Horswell
David Sartin, a rather quiet and unassuming man, was living alone in an old manufactured home on a 3-acre plot in Hankamer, about 25 miles east of Houston. The 49-year-old’s only scrape with the law had been a single traffic ticket – until he visited a “dream marriage” website that boasted the “hottest Russian brides.”
Now he finds himself sitting in a jail cell, waiting to be sentenced after pleading guilty last week in Beaumont to attempted kidnapping and brandishing a firearm in connection with a bizarre murder-for-hire plot involving a Ukrainian blonde half his age.
The scheme involved abduction, lead poisoning and a fortified room that Sartin added onto his home where he allegedly planned to imprison his would-be wife.
Before his life spun out of control, the small-framed man was living thriftily. His only income came from a disability check following two surgeries on his back which he injured while installing loading dock equipment, relatives said.
Then three years ago, Sartin clicked on a website that described itself as the spot to meet “beautiful Russian women and sexy Ukrainian brides to be.” It said it was designed for those seeking true love with “Western men.”
Sartin was attracted to one particular friendly blonde, Elena Barykina, authorities said.
His 73-year-old father, Cecil, a retired insurance agent in Dayton, said he warned his son to be leery of the promises of love and marriage.
“But my son was lonely, and she was prettier and could talk sweeter than me,” the father said. “This is an industry, a business to the girls who post their pictures there.”
$15,000 in jewelry
Over the course of the next two years, David Sartin’s passport indicated he made a half dozen trips to visit her.
Sartin later writes on a website about showering her with $15,000 in jewelry, including a diamond wedding set. He also tells of spending thousands more taking her on lavish trips across Europe, giving her funds for living and school expenses and paying for photo shoots and record productions to jump start her singing career (clips of her singing were posted on YouTube).
The money apparently came from about $400,000 he gained from a divorce settlement in 2006. His ex-wife, Betty Sartin, who was married to him for 11 years, said she had to split her retirement fund with him that she’d accumulated while working at Mobil. “I was 13 years older than him, and he played me for a fool. Now he’s met somebody a little smarter than him,” she said.
Sartin later writes on a website for reporting Internet scams that he treated his dream girl like a princess but then found out she was anything but his dream girl.
While Sartin said he and Barykina had refrained from sex until marrying, he wrote that he had discovered she had a Russian boyfriend.
Barykina could not be reached for comment.
After the betrayal, Sartin wrote he felt suicidal. “She is a very clever person,” he wrote. “How low can a person be, to betray and use the love of a man for her financial gain. This is a very dangerous game she is playing.”
His father doesn’t believe his son ever truly wanted to kill Barykina, as investigators allege. “He just wanted to get her over here so he could sue her,” he said. “And in the back of his heart, I think he was still hoping they might have a life together.”
Conversations taped
But an undercover agent with the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives described a much more sinister plot.
Taped conversations in January and February detail how Sartin agreed to pay $50,000 for the agent to abduct Barykina – described as a “package” that could be “shipped in a crate.” He stated he would then personally “take care of her,” through “lead poisoning.”
He told the agent that Barykina had cheated him. He also suggested he might later want to “eliminate” her Russian boyfriend, too, according to court records.
Then on March 6, Sartin purchased supplies he used to build a fortified room onto his trailer and paid the $25,000 down payment for the kidnapping, records said.
He stated he wanted to get “at least get a week out of her” before her demise, court records show.
Arrested in Beaumont
Two weeks later, Sartin went to a hardware store parking lot in Beaumont where he expected Barykina to be turned over to him.
Instead he was arrested by federal agents, said federal prosecutor Joe Batte. An envelope with the final $25,000 installment, handcuffs, stun gun and a pistol were recovered during a search of Sartin and his truck.
Sartin’s neighbors were stunned by his arrest.
“We’d had him over for dinner a few times and invited him to our children’s birthday parties,” said Sarah Sharp, who lives next door.
“He kind of kept to himself but was very sweet. Once he mentioned having a girl over there that he loved very much. He never realized she was a gold digger. I guess love is blind,” she said.

Source
Dear Mr. Mark Hutten,
I have just found your web site: www.internetscaswatch.com and finally felt that maybe there was a way to have my voice heard and hopefully get something done and this girl stopped. Arrested would be great. I tried talking to the police in Simferopol Crimea Ukraine, but naturally not being able to speak Russian and non of the police speak English I found myself all alone.
I met this girl on a dating site (Dream Marriage) in 2009. I met her the first time in Kiev March of 2010. During all this time from then to now I have grown to love this person with all of my heart and it was not hard. I have taken her to many cities and countries and have paid her way to many singing contest and performances along with visa cost and travel for her alone when I could not fly to her. I have treated this girl as a princess and as my wife as she has promised great love and marriage.
I have supported her as a good husband would do and have showered her with many gifts of gold and diamonds and even a complete wedding set that she wore and can see in many of her advertisement posters for the concerts. I have just returned from Ukraine and it was not a pleasant trip for me and the cost to come home early was not good either. Do to some documents Elena had sent to me about a school in Illinois I have learned of another man and when asking of this was ashore it was nothing that he was just a friend and performer. During this trip I confronted Elena of this person and told her I had met him and spoken with him then the truth came out. I was devastated.
I have learned that all during this two years I have been sending her money by wire transfer as she as requested she is also doing the same to many other men. It was all a fraud from the beginning. The part that makes this the worst of all is that Elena Barykina used a child to capture my heart as we made this child our God daughter. With this event Elena knew she would have my financial support for ever as we now have a family or we have a God daughter together. I have given to Elena Barykina $57,752.00 USD to date and I am still adding up the receipts for all the travels we have taken together. NO, I have never had sex with this women as this is something that to me is sacred and saved for marriage. This was great for her as she was getting all for nothing. I was paying for her advanced schooling in Music and her master’s degree as we were waiting until she could finish all school in this field then bring her to the USA for greater English schools.
She has cried out many times of her rent to be paid and food to eat. Books to buy, etc. All during this time proclaiming her love and marriage to me soon and at the same time sleeping with another. I have the pictures of them two together but have not pictures of other men. This all goes in much deeper detail and I fear to write all at first as it may take many letters.
She has in her possession $15,000.00 worth of gold and diamond jewelry that I do want back and it would be nice to get as much of my money back as possible. I had no idea I was being scammed as I believed in this girl with all of my heart and she knew this. This is a very cruel thing to do to a person. My first thought upon arriving back home was to put an end to myself, but I was feared of not hitting the right spot and the pain would be bad. You get the idea!!! I do not believe she understands just how serious this is and what could happen to a man that experiences this kind of pain.
I have all documentations from the bank of all wire transfers. Receipts of travels, flights, cruises, hotels pictures of her passports if it will help.
She has just moved to Kiev to return to school that I have paid for and she wanted me to buy her apartment for the next 3 months in Kiev, but after her confession to me I packed my bags and departed. The laptop she carries belongs to me and the camera she carries was paid for by myself. She has just started a job at the art school in Kiev teaching children to sing is what she has posted on face book.
Now that I have told her she would receive no more funds from myself she has blocked me from seeing her post and from all contact. I do not know were in Kiev her new apartment is located. I will put on this letter links to the school or you can look at her profile on face book and find most of her details. Thank you very much and please tell me something if you will. Sincerely, Da