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Two more pigeon drop scams in Allen
BY DANNY GALLAGHER, McKinney Courier-Gazette
Two people in Allen filed criminal complaints with police regarding pigeon drop scams that are similar in nature to a scam conducted in Princeton.
Allen police Capt. Robert Flores said the incidents in which a black male approached a victim and asked them for a small amount of cash in exchange for a larger amount of cash occurred in May and June.
The first Allen incident occurred May 18 when an unknown black male, approximately 30-35 years old, approached an elderly man in the 600 block of West McDermott Drive and told him he had a $150,000 inheritance wrapped in a handkerchief that he wanted to give to a charity. The man got the victim to give him $6,000 in cash as a sign of good faith.
The two Allen incidents share some similarities with cases filed by the Princeton Police Department against Jeron Kooksey, 26; Franklin Kennedy, 47; and Roosevelt Owens, 73. In both cases, the subject asked a victim for a small amount of money in order to secure a larger amount of money, better known as a "pigeon drop" scheme.
The subjects in the Allen cases also told their victims they wanted to donate a large sum of money to a local charity or church just like in Princeton.
Flores said no arrests were made in either case, and they do not know for sure if Kooksey, Kennedy or Owens are connected to either of these cases.
Kooksey, Kennedy and Owens were arrested Monday in Princeton for allegedly trying to scam someone out of $5,000 in cash with a con similar to the Nigerian or 419 e-mail scams in the 400 block of East Princeton Drive. Princeton Police Chief Jeff Barnett said Kooksey enlisted the help of Kennedy and Owens for the con. He allegedly went up to the unidentified victim at a car wash and told the victim they were looking for a church so they could make a large cash donation that they inherited from an uncle who died in South Africa from a work-related accident.
Then they produced two stacks of cash approximately 2 inches thick that they claimed were worth $100,000. They also gave the victim a letter to back up their story.
Barnett said the men promised the victim they could keep the $100,000 and donate it to a charity for them, but they first had to prove they had enough cash in their bank account by pulling $5,000 in cash out of it.
Barnett said officers stopped them in the 100 block of West Princeton Drive after the citizen alerted police. Officers found the two stacks of cash that turned out to be play money, and two letters describing the story of a dead South African uncle along with a third similar letter that said the uncle was from Atlanta, Ga., and the inheritance was worth $130,000.
All three were taken into custody on state jail felony charges of using false statements to obtain property or credit and engaging in organized crime.
Kooksey and Kennedy were each released on a $5,000 bond. Owens is still being held on a federal FBI warrant for impersonating a federal officer in connection with another scam committed against a 77-year-old woman in Fairfield, according to the FBI.
Contact Danny Gallagher at dgallagher@acnpapers.com.
The following are comments from the readers.
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
Melody wrote on Nov 14, 2006 2:05 PM:
" I live in Mckinney Tx. and have had a simular incident occur. It was all done by internet , Fed-x and wirering money. A man sent me an e-mail back in October of this year telling me "You need this part time job!" Everything seemed ok. The man said he was a freelance researcher and a Dr.. He said that he was in West Africa and needed someone in the U.S. to be his Payment Represenitive. He said he would send me his paychecks via Fed-X make them out to myself and then I am to take the checks and cash them. I then take 10% of the check out for myself and wire the rest Western Union. Well, after I replied , he sent me an e-mail a few weeks later saying the checks will be there in 24 hours. The next morning Fed-X dropped off 6 Travelers checks $500 a piece. I took them to my bank to see if they were real. They were all counterfit!! I had my bank fax everything to the American Express and they advised me it was all apart of an African scam!! I sent them every e-mail he ever sent to me and all his personal information!! "
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