Since you have not read the post, and can't find it, here it is, with names removed:
A person who identified himself to me as **** contacted me via email a couple months ago about putting me in a free nationwide BEA directory he was putting together. I gave him pertinent contact information for the directory, and he said he would add me, and then I did not hear from him until last week.
Last week this same person called me and said a female bondsman out of California contacted him because she had a guy out on bond, for the amount of 200,000 for attempted murder of a police officer. He said the defendant was in Indiana. He said the defendant is part of MS-13, which is a latin gang I deal with on a weekly basis in Indianapolis. He said the guy was probably armed to the teeth, but we knew the house he was in and the guys brother in law was working for the bondsman and the brother in law was flying in. He said he had contacted one agent before he called me, however the agent he spoke to said he was unarmed and only carried pepper spray. He said that he remembered me saying I work armed and so he did not want to give it to this kid due to the fact he didn't want this kids death on his mind. I told him myself and my team were more than capable of apprehending a high risk fugitive and I would be more than happy to take the case. He said the bondsman was paying 85,000 for his capture, and transport to California.
The next day he called me back and said "I have good news and bad news" He said the good news is the bondsman agreed to use us, and that the brother in law had flown in late the night before and had went through the house and said there were no weapons he could find. He said the brother in law reported it was an upstairs apartment and the only people in the apartment were the defendant, an older gentleman on an oxygen tank, and the brother-in-law informant. He said the bondsman had agreed to wire us up to $2,500 up front for expenses, and that he had the file and contact info for the bondsman sitting on his fax machine at home. The bad news he said was that he was in AZ picking up a female fugitive on a 40,000 bond, and wasn't sure how long it would take him to get back to california. He said he did not bring the bondsmans contact info with him as he did not expect this pick up to last so long.
He then called me back a few hours later and said he got his fugitive and was on the way back to CA. He said it would take him approx 4 hours to get back to CA and another 20-30 minutes to get this girl booked in the jail, and as soon as he got home he would get me the file and introduce me to the bondsman. I asked him if it was feasible we could move on it this same evening, as I did not want to sit around and wait for fear that the 'defendant' might get tipped off about the brother in law working for us. He said absolutely, the bondsman also owns a 24 hour check cashing place and that it would be no problem for her to wire me the money, even if it was after most businesses were closed.
About three hours after that he called me and said his car was broke down, and the mechanic was working on it. He said he would be delayed and was just letting me know why it was taking so long. Then about a half hour later he called back. He said "I'm sorry to have to ask you but I didn't bring my contact list with me....I don't know what your financial situation is right now, but..." and then went on to explain that his dad had wired him $200 for car repairs but his dad could not send more due to a mortage payment he had just made. He said he was $143 short for the mechanic. I said that I didn't really have any extra money to spare, but that we needed to get him back on the road so he could get me this file. He said he was going to have a $4,000 check sent to him after he booked in his female fugitive and that he would pay me back with interest, and I said not to worry about it, just get home and get me the file as quick as you can. I told him I was planning on giving him a referral bonus anyway for the 85,000 bounty.
In my mind, it was just a smart business deal. Thinking I had a potential of an $85,000 payday that couldn't happen until this guy got back home to get me the file and put me in contact with the bondsman, it seemed like a smart trade. But at the same time my gut was telling me that you never trust anyone 100%, and so I asked him a few questions, such as birthday, home address, expected city of pickup, etc. He gave me a birthday of 09/08/1981, which I have confirmed through public data is indeed a birthdate of an ******. He gave me a home address of:
***** Apt 37
Temecula, CA
I wired him the money, called him and told him the MCT and about 40 minutes later he called me to advise he was back on the road and expected to be home in approximately two hours.
In the mean time I was getting my team ready. I had one guy over the road in Iowa hauling FEMA trailers part time. I had him make a quick drop and drive straight back. I had a guy who turned down visitation of his kids to be on standbuy. I had one employee who due to lack of hours has been struggling financially and just had a new baby that I got all excited at the prospect of a large pay day. And I had one partner who almost walked out of his part time job to take a trip to CA with me after the capture. Thankfully instead of walking out he explained the situation to HR and they granted him a few days off.
When three hours had passed and he still hadn't called me, I tried calling him several times on his Nextel Cell phone. The number at the time was 951-795-****. I waited several more hours, and had my team on standby the entire time. Every 15 minutes I attempted to call him and just got voicemail. At about 3amEST I finally called my team and told them to go ahead and get some sleep. As soon as 830am rolled around on the west coast I started calling him again, and attempted to find a home phone number based on the info he gave me. I still had no luck. I ran some searches and found a criminal history for an individual with the name of ****with the same birthdate I was given on the phone. Some of the criminal history is for theft. This was very alarming and I sent an email to the person identifying himself to me as *** (bailguy24@***.com)
Then at approx 1pm EST his nextel cell phone was disconnected. Next, my post to FRN message board.
About 4am EST I got a call on my toll free line from a man identifying himself as John ****. He said he was ***'s ex partner. He said ********has been confined to an in home health care facility in El Paso, TX due to a bad car accident that he had been in that left him barely alive. He stressed the point that he owed **** his life because of a case they worked together a while back. I recognized the voice I was talking to as ****'s, however he was using a different accent and it was late so I was not as alert as I could have been.
I have since confirmed through a third party source that the person calling me was in fact ***** pretending to be John *****.
Then I had a very interesting conversation on AOL instant messenger with a person on ***** screen name, bailguy24. He claimed to be John. Then I get an email from a person identifying themself as Mike *** asking if I was looking for ****. He said he had seen something on the board. (Apparently **** and all of his personalities/friends monitor the board on a daily basis).
I replied to the email and asked if he was a friend or someone that was also looking for him. Two seconds later I get an IM from "Mike ***" saying "Hey, matt" "I'm a friend". This happened from email address: AgentMSmith@***.com and AIM s/n AgentMSmith.
Now my AOL screen name is not searchable. I do not have a profile, the email address I used to register it is an old cancelled account, and my initial registrant info was when I was living in Seattle. There is literally no way he could have found my screen name unless *** gave it to him, or he was ***. We spoke a few minutes online and he asked me to call him, as he was not willing to talk online. I told him I needed a few minutes to use the restroom then I would call, and I used those few minutes to set up phone recording.
You can listen to the recorded conversation by going to this link:
http://www.yourfilelink.com/get.php?fid=74033
As you can tell, "Mike ***" lied several times in my conversation with him. However I played along, and even played at being sympathetic towards Anthony during one part of the phone call just to see what other information I could get.
Of interesting note, the 951-795-*** number is an active number and goes to the same voicemail recording with "***" voice that I probably had listened to 100 times when I called him after the wire transfer. This number is still active at the time of this post, however it is not being answered to blocked calls, or calls spoofed to appear to be CA numbers.
Then yesterday evening I get an email from bailguy24***.com and have a IM conversation with that same screen name. The person said their name was Joe ***, his brother. He admitted that he was the one that took my money, and he said that *** was confined to a wheelchair. Obviously, I'm still talking to ***, but that is what he said. Then I get an email from bailguy24@***.com . Here is that email:
From:Bailguy24@***.com
Date:Mon, Apr 10, 2006 2:20 am
To:agent@ncpionline.com
one thing that you need to understand is that you cannot go around posting a persons info on any site. ***does not have a criminal history. so, if you so choose to post something that is fine, I cannot stop you from doing that. but you need to make sure that *** is the one that you sent money to. it will later be proven that *** was in fact at kaiser permenante receiving therapy for his DUI accident on July 22. I will monitor everything that you post and if anything is fraudulent, bogus, or is a lie, I will let my dad knows right away.
I have already printed out the e-mail from earlier telling you to not contact me anymore. I am verbally asking you to stop. I already told you that I am Joe ***, and you can go to
www.lasd.org to see my charges for that I have been arrested for. which is identity theft and check fraud. so be it. that's between me and god. I have a drug problem. simple as that. do not contact this subscriber again
And then this email:
From: Bailguy24@***.com
Date: Sun, Apr 09, 2006 9:55 pm
To:
agent@ncpionline.com
matt
my name is joe *** and i am ****** older and wiser brother. i am the one that got the money from you. you also mentioned about getting my brother. *** is in a wheel chair for atleast the next year or so. if any body goes near my little bro and attacks him or harms him, i will be cashing in a favor that a person in mexico owes me. hes from a drug cartel. do you have any friends in the mexican mafia?
And then finally, this email:
From: Bailguy24@***.com
Date: Mon, Apr 10, 2006 3:01 am
To:
agent@ncpionline.com
sounds good to me. but you ever come near my kid brother, you will be dealt with from the mexican mafia in Culican Sinaloa Mexico, which is the drug capital of mexico. The is a drug lord down there that owes me a life saving favor. do not ever call or write to this e-mail again. you have been warned.
i already have your home address..................................................................
That pretty much brings us to present day. I have spoke with few people who have also been scammed by this person, one being the exact same scam he pulled on me with $150 for car repairs. One thing that obviously bothers this guy the most is his criminal records being made public (I mean, come on- anyone in this profession has access to online sources that could pull this up in a matter of seconds, Accurint, Merlin, LocatePlus, etc)
As soon as I upload the files containing information on his criminal convictions I will be posting that as well.
We know he monitors the board, we know he targets people off of the FRN web site.
****, I do not care if you have my home address. I am a member of NAIS so its not that hard to find either through them or through the professional licensing agency, or department of insurance in Indiana. I'm not scared, you can't intimidate me. If you need to scam people for $150 I highly doubt you could find the funds to come to my house or send anyone else to my house for that matter.
****, your game is up. It's time to be a man and admit your mistakes. If the Marines taught you anything (if you were actually in the Marines) it should have been how to be a man. However I am also checking with a Marine buddy of mine to confirm if you ever were in the service. I do believe it is a federal offense to impersonate a member of the armed forces, and the reporter who printed your name in the news story will obviously remember and testify to what you said.
Any other comments or stories to share on this person identifying himself as **** are more than welcome.
Kind regards,
Matt Parker
BEA/PI
IN Lic#s PD10500053, 268
