Ormond woman scammed out of $30,000 in phone call scheme

This week in Cops Corner...


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Sept. 11

Car troubles

1:36 p.m. — 2000 block of West Granada Boulevard

Loitering or prowling. A 20-year-old Pomona Park man told police he was checking random doors on vehicles because he "had a brain fart." 

According to his arrest report, officers responded to a local retail pharmacy after being notified that a suspicious person was checking door handles of cars parked in the lot. The man in question originally told a pharmacist that he was looking for his mother's car, a story he retold to police once they made contact with him. But this time, added that he had left it on the side f the highway, and that it was gone when he went back for it.

When asked what he was doing in Ormond Beach, the man said he was staying with friends, but later changed his story to say that he was dropping his friends off in Port Orange when his mother's car ran out of gas. Police asked him why he walked to the retail pharmacy instead of the nearby gas station, and the man said that he had been "thirsty."

He also claimed that he was trying to click the key fob to what he thought was his mother's vehicle in the parking lot, and also tried the car next to it since it looked like his girlfriend; his girlfriend was not there. The man continued changing his story, at one point claiming that he had been at the retail pharmacy with his twin brother. His twin brother was also not there. 

He was arrested and taken to jail. His mother's vehicle was found up the road, and she told police she would come pick it up. 

Sept. 14

Bad wiring

10:45 a.m. — 500 block of Riverside Drive

Burglary. Police charged a 55-year-old Daytona Beach man with a three felonies after he was caught cutting and stealing circuit breakers and wiring from a residence. 

The homeowner called police after he discovered the man cutting wires from his main electrical panel. The homeowner asked him to stop and inquired as to why he was cutting the wires, to which the man replied that he thought the wiring was "junk," according to the police report. Once the homeowner informed him he would be calling 911, he said the man became nervous and offered him money to let him go. 

The homeowner estimated the wiring damage caused by the man totaled about $2,500, in addition to the $1,000 worth of circuit breakers and wiring that were stolen. 

Police issued a Be On the Lookout alert for the man. 

Sept. 17

Beware of this scam

8:08 a.m. — 100 block of Deer Lake Circle

Fraud. An 82-year-old Ormond Beach woman was scammed out of $30,000 after she received a call from a "hysterically-sobbing female' who claimed to be her daughter and that she had been arrested for driving under the influence, and causing the death of an unborn baby, as she had been involved in a car crash and the other driver had been pregnant.

The woman on the phone then passed the phone on to a man who alleged he was a public defender and instructed the Ormond Beach woman to send the $12,000 attorney fee through two bank routing numbers. The woman completed the transactions, against the recommendations of her bank, the police report states. 

The next day, the woman received another call from the alleged public defender, who this time requested $18,000. Again, the Ormond Beach woman did as he asked. Once she realized she had been scammed, she notified police of the crime and advised she wanted to pursue charges. 

 

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