Three charged in two separate elder scams, police say
A trio of alleged scammers got nabbed Wednesday, police said, one after he conned an elderly Westbury woman into thinking she had won a sweepstakes and two others after they convinced another elderly Michigan woman her grandson needed bail money.
In the first case, Nassau County police arrested Romano George, 28, of Hicksville, for his alleged role in a scam in which he told the 87-year-old woman she had won the Publishers Clearing House. The scam cost the victim $86,000, investigators said.
In the second scam, Suffolk County police said they arrested Benson Massillon, 34, of Brooklyn, and Lenard Gillis, 35, of Baldwin, as the pair grabbed a package containing $40,000 in cash from a home in West Babylon.
All three were scheduled for arraignment Thursday, police said.
Police said the victim in the Publishers Clearing House scam lived in Westbury and said that a letter, sent through the U.S. mail, instructed her to withdraw cash over "multiple dates" to pay fees and taxes tied to her win.
"The victim was further instructed, that individuals would come to her home to pick up the cash and she complied with these demands," a police statement said.
When no prize arrived, she contacted the police.
On Wednesday, police said "an unknown subject" got in touch with the woman and instructed her to take out $5,000, which then would be picked up.
The woman then called police, and George was arrested at her home at 6 p.m. Wednesday, police said. He was charged with felony grand larceny. It was not immediately clear if the money was recovered.
In the second scam, Suffolk police learned that an 82-year-old victim, who lives in Michigan, received a call that her grandson needed bail money following a crash.
Suffolk police contacted local police, who went to the woman's house after she didn't answer her phone. She told them she was told by a person purporting to be in law enforcement that she was "not to speak to anyone and not to speak to the police," said acting Suffolk Police Commissioner Stuart Cameron in a news conference Thursday.
Police learned the woman had sent $10,000 to an address in Brooklyn on Aug. 20, but that a man later called her claiming an unborn child had died in the crash and demanded an additional $40,000 in cash, to be sent to an address in West Babylon.
Detectives from the Suffolk police Financial Crimes Unit surveilled the home, intercepted the package and arrested Massillon and Gillis.
Both men were charged with third-degree attempted grand larceny, criminal possession of stolen property and fifth-degree conspiracy.
The money recovered in the second case will be returned to the victim, police said.
With Reece Williams
John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”
'We have to do better' Newsday high school sports editor Gregg Sarra talks about a bench-clearing, parent-involved incident at a Half Hollow Hills West basketball game.
'We have to do better' Newsday high school sports editor Gregg Sarra talks about a bench-clearing, parent-involved incident at a Half Hollow Hills West basketball game.
