Reading man charged in Wayne County scam
Dec. 22—Elizabeth Stengel told state police at Honesdale the story seemed believable.
On May 24, the Wayne County woman received a frantic phone call from a man purporting to be her son, who told her he had been involved in a car crash that injured a pregnant woman and needed $9,000 cash for bail.
The caller said he had to have stitches to his face, explaining that is why he didn't sound like himself.
Stengel learned too late it was a scam.
Almost seven months later, a Reading man, Cristopher E. Mauricio III, 19, faces theft by deception and other charges for his role in the scheme, Wayne County District Attorney A.G. Howell announced.
According to state police, after Stengel spoke to the man claiming to be her son, another caller posing as his attorney instructed her to place $9,000 she withdrew from Dime Bank in Honesdale in an envelope with the name of "Judge Arnold Joseph Gazzello" on the outside. He said a service would come to her home to get it.
Mauricio then stopped and picked up the money, giving her a receipt, police said.
Moments later, the supposed attorney called Stengel again and said the judge had doubled her son's bail after the pregnant woman lost her baby.
Investigators said Stengel was on her way to Dime Bank to withdraw another $9,000 when she received word from her son that he had not been in an accident.
According to police, the first call supposedly originated from a telephone number associated with a hospital in New York City, where Stengel's son works, and she told investigators the man posing as the attorney knew both her son's name and her address.
In September, state police were notified that Mauricio had been investigated after similar incidents in the York County area.
A detective with the Southern Regional Police Department sent state police a photo recovered from Mauricio's cellphone depicting three bundles of money with currency bands from the Dime Bank stamped May 23, investigators said. An envelope with Gazzello's name on the outside was also found in his vehicle.
In an interview with investigators, Mauricio said he was approached in January by a man, whom he identified as "the caller," who asked if he wanted a job picking up money, police said.
Mauricio said he would receive instructions via the WhatsApp messaging application about the pickup addresses and then would deliver the money to locations in New York or New Jersey that changed each time, according to police. Mauricio, who said he was paid $200 for each pickup, told police he did not know the identity of the caller.
In addition to theft, Mauricio was arraigned earlier this month before Magisterial District Judge Jonathan J. Dunsinger on charges of criminal use of a communication facility and receiving stolen property.
He was released on $50,000 unsecured bail while awaiting a preliminary hearing, which is expected to be scheduled in mid- to late January.
Contact the writer:
dsingleton@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9132.
