Port St. Lucie - Wednesday May 25, 2022: Port St. Lucie police detectives have arrested 2 suspects accused of stealing $8,000 from an elderly person in bail money phone scam.
25-year-old Jordan Dor of West Palm Beach and 26-year-old Jenny Richard of Royal Palm Beach were arrested on May 20th by PSLPD Detective Nicholas Lovechio and Detective Amanda Bukata.
The investigation began after the Des Moines County Iowa Sheriff’s Office contacted PSLPD to advise that one of their residents fell victim to a phone scam. The scammers called the victim on the phone claiming that a relative of the victim was in jail. The scammer told the victim to mail $8,000 in cash to them so that they could bail out the victim's relative.
The victim mailed the cash in a package that was delivered to a residence in Port St. Lucie, and within minutes, the two suspects pulled into the driveway to pick it up.
Detectives Lovechio and Bukata were watching, and waiting. They saw the suspects retrieved the package and drive away. Detectives Lovechio and Bukata then conducted a traffic stop. Dor and Richard were arrested and taken to the St. Lucie Jail. The package was recovered from inside the suspect’s vehicle and the $8,000 in cash was returned to the victim.
The PSLPD reminds residents:
-Don’t send or wire money to anyone you have not met before.
-Contact a trusted family member who can confirm whether the caller’s story is legitimate.
-Ask the caller questions that would be difficult for them to answer.
-Contact Law Enforcement to investigate further.