POLK COUNTY, Fla. — The Polk County Sheriff's Office arrested eight suspects in connection to a fraud investigation, resulting in the recovery of a total of $8.8 million in stolen funds.
During a press conference, Sheriff Grady Judd stated that the fraud case affected 235 victims across several states. PCSO worked with the Florida Attorney General and agencies from other states to uncover the funds.
Officials said the victims were mainly targeted because they were elderly. The suspects allegedly transferred money into accounts that the suspects opened and disbursed the money among themselves or made purchases.
“You got to be a pretty weak and pathetic person to want to cheat and scam our seniors,” said Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier.
WATCH: 8 people arrested, over $8M recovered in bank fraud investigation targeting elderly: Sheriff Grady Judd
The suspects, Barbara Frazee, 65, Camala Shafer, 57, and Antonio Penn, 32, all worked at a bank in Maryland. The suspect Okeroghene Akushe, 29, lived in Missouri and Hassan Phillips, 23, lived in Maryland. Kevin Clayton, 25, Roshado Durrant, 26, and Michael Nevarez, 27, lived in Lakeland.
Sheriff Judd said the investigation began in April 2023 when Synchrony Banks noticed suspicious activity tied to a new account belonging to Nevarez. The account had received a $250,000 transfer from another bank, and the funds were quickly dispersed into other accounts.
Detectives found the source of the stolen account information came from three bank employees in Maryland. Frazee and Shafer were veteran employees with over 35 years of experience and full access to customer data. According to PCSO, Penn, who worked at the same branch, would ask Frazee and Shafer to log in to their accounts, and he would take photos of the account details and login credentials. Penn would then sell this information on a mobile messaging app called Telegram.
"Our cyber fraud analysts are experts in tracking money and digging into volumes of technical data to prove the evidence needed in cases like this. The work does not stop now. We’re committed in this case through prosecution to see that these men women are brought to justice,” said Eli Lawson with Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Authorities said Penn met Akushe when they played football together at West Virginia University. Between Feb. 2022 and June 2023, Penn brokered stolen account information to Akushe, who then sold the information to others. PCSO said Durrant told detectives he met Akushe on the Telegram app and admitted to being a "recruiter" in the scheme for two years.
According to PCSO, Durrant would receive stolen bank files and then forward them to fraudsters who paid for the account information. Durrant communicated with other suspects in the app, including Phillips and Clayton, and had images of between 10 and 20 victims' banking credentials stored on his phone.
“This wasn’t some small-time scam, this was a well-organized fraud ring stealing millions from innocent victims across the country. They thought they could hide behind mobile apps and fake accounts, but we found them. And we’ll continue to go after anyone who targets hardworking people’s life savings," Sheriff Judd said. "Racketeering is a serious crime, and these suspects are facing serious consequences for their illegal criminal conduct.”
In total, detectives said they documented $8,842,398 in unlawfully accessed funds during their investigation.
Authorities arrested all suspects, and they have been charged with racketeering and felonies related to racketeering.
“As customers and consumers before you open an account, before you trust folks with your money, you’re also helping the bank out to say hey, what are you doing to protect my money,” said Judd.
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