But federal prosecutors said Wednesday that Rowan Hemmings just moved his operation from Miramar to the mailbox of an unoccupied house in Homestead.

He was arrested last week after investigators intercepted $2,000 mailed by an 82-year-old woman in Pennsylvania. The woman had been falsely informed she won a Publisher's Clearinghouse prize.

Hemmings, 45, now of Cutler Bay, failed Wednesday to persuade a federal judge to release him from jail while the investigation continues. Assistant U.S. Attorney Bertha Mitrani told the judge that Hemmings will face mail and wire fraud charges.

Hemmings told federal agents from Homeland Security Investigations and the Postal Inspection Service that the parcels were for his son, Dimetri Hemmings, who lives in Jamaica. The son was supposed to meet with Jamaican authorities but never showed up for the appointment, according to court records.

Assistant Federal Public Defender Michael Spivack argued that Rowan Hemmings was not a flight risk because the Jamaican citizen remained in the U.S. after the initial investigation in 2013.

But Mitrani said Hemmings is a flight risk and poses an economic danger to victims. Many of the targets of such frauds are seniors who are particularly vulnerable, she said. Co-conspirators contact potential victims and tell them they have won a lottery or sweepstake prize, then convince the victims that they have to mail or wire money to pay fees or taxes before they can collect their winnings, she said.

"An argument can be made that he got one 'get out of jail card,' but he's not going to get a second one," Mitrani told U.S. Magistrate Judge Alicia Valle during a hearing in federal court in Fort Lauderdale.

Authorities are also investigating Hemmings' immigration status, Mitrani said. He has "conditional" permission to live here based on his 2014 marriage to a U.S. citizen but was living with someone else and said he didn't know his wife's phone number when he was arrested, authorities said.