By Michael Weisser
Contributing Writer
On Oct. 8th, Reading Police arrested Ramon Emilio Peguero-Rosario, Jashua Noboa-Nival and Yeurys Peguero-Rosario. The men were charged with theft by deception, receiving stolen property and criminal conspiracy.
The trio were involved in a phone calling scam, targeting grandparents and pretending to be their grandchildren in need of money.
On Oct. 5th, the group called an unidentified 67-year-old man. One of the group posed as the victim’s grandson, saying that he had caused a car wreck, injuring a pregnant lady. He claimed that his public defender would call soon. The scam caller also asked the 67-year-old man to not tell his parents about the so-called incident.
One of the other scam accomplices called several minutes later posing as a public defender, telling the victim that his grandson would need $6,800 in cash by the next day for bail, as well as a clean shirt for the hearing. The scam caller gave an address to send the money to, and the victim, wanting to help his grandson, complied.
On Oct. 6th, the scammer, posing as the public defender, called the victim again saying that the unborn baby from the fake accident had died. This, he explained, meant his grandson would also be charged with manslaughter and that the grandfather would need to provide another $5,000 in cash for fees.
The unidentified grandfather intended to withdraw the cash but called his actual grandson and his parents to check the validity of the statements.
Realizing he was a victim of a scam, this individual called and notified the Berks County District Attorney’s Detective Unit.
On Oct. 7th, the victim agreed to help detectives and mailed a package to the same address as directed by the scam callers. He then provided the delivery time and tracking number to the scam callers.
On the morning of Oct. 8th, the Berks County District Attorney’s Detective Unit and Reading Police worked together on an undercover operation. They watched the package after it’s delivery, and a short while later, a car with the three males arrived.
One of the scammers got out as the other two waited in the parked car nearby. After one of the trio opened the package, all three were soon arrested by surrounding law enforcement. The scammers were taken into custody and admitted to the scam calls.
The trio of scam callers are currently being held in Berks County Prison with bail set at $250,000 for each of them.