Wilmington police detective victimized by money mule scheme, report concludes
A Wilmington Police Department detective was investigated earlier this year following suspicions she was involved in alleged financial crimes, but an investigation by the N.C. Conference of District Attorneys concluded she was actually a victim of a money mule scheme.
In a case review summary by Jordan Ford, chief financial crimes prosecutor with the conference, Ford recommended against pursuing prosecution of the detective, Aricka Sidbury, following an investigation by law enforcement and prosecutors.
Sidbury was suspended from her role with the police department in April after the department was notified that she had been linked to a pending fraud investigation in Marin County, California. Investigators there had been investigating Sidbury since December 2022, but the Marin County Sheriff’s Office ultimately concluded that Sidbury was the victim of a money mule operation.
More: Investigators: Wilmington detective won't face charges in connection with alleged crime
The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigations also lodged an investigation into Sidbury’s involvement, concluding in July that criminal charges were not warranted.
According to Ford’s case review summary, the California investigation began when a California business owner’s email account was hacked as he was attempting to send payment to a vendor. The man followed instructions that had been emailed to him and sent $20,000 to someone he thought was a legitimate vendor but was later determined to be an unknown scammer.
The funds were sent to a bank account that, it has been determined, was opened by Sidbury in North Carolina at the instruction of the scammer or someone connected to the scammer. At the time, Sidbury was employed by the Wilmington Police Department as a detective.
Ford’s summary concluded that Sidbury had been communicating with the unknown scammer over Skype messaging. Sidbury believed the person – known to her as “Thompson Octavia” – was a real person living in Fayetteville. Sidbury believed the two were in an online dating relationship, Ford said.
From the summer of 2022 through January 2023, Sidbury “received and sent money to various financial accounts as directed by Octavia.” Octavia told Sidbury he was working out of the country in France, he had been robbed, and his friends and family were sending him money to help. After a review of the two’s Skype messages, investigators concluded Sidbury had been groomed by Octavia over a months-long period.
Investigators concluded that “…there is no evidence that Sidbury ever solicited anyone for any amount of money on behalf of Octavia or others connected to him and the underlying scam,” and that Sidbury did not contact the California business owner or any other victims of the scam.
“The evidence in the Sidbury matter establishes that Sidbury was unknowingly working for Octavia as an unwitting money mule,” Ford concluded, stating the evidence necessary to proceed with criminal prosecution is lacking in this matter.
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Sidbury is a 12-year veteran of the police department, and daughter to Wilmington city clerk Penelope Spicer-Sidbury. Sidbury was born and raised in Wilmington. Three years ago, she was honored as one of Wilmington's 40 under 40, an award reserved for those in Wilmington who are helping the Cape Fear region prosper.
Reach reporter Jamey Cross at jbcross@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Report: Wilmington police detective was victim of money mule scheme
