25 Year Old Ocean County Man Indicted for Murder
January 13, 2022High School North Student Featured in Papa John’s Pizza Commercial
January 13, 2022
New York Men Charged in Elder Fraud Scheme
According to Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer and Barnegat Township Police Chief Keith A. Germain announced that on January 6, 2022, Jorge Peguero-Mendez, 34, and Richard Quinones-Perez, 24, both of the Bronx, New York, were each charged with Theft by Deception in violation, as well as Conspiracy to Commit Theft by Deception.
The charges were brought after a joint investigation by the Barnegat Township Police Department and the Economic Crime Squad of the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office.
An elderly woman from Barnegat was contacted by a person claiming to be her grandson in December. The man informed her that he had been in a car accident in New York City and that he had been arrested since the other driver had been injured.
The caller went on to say that he had been assigned a lawyer to represent him. The woman then received a second phone call, this time from a man claiming to be her grandson's lawyer, offering to have her grandson released from custody in exchange for a $8000 cash payment.
She was afterwards approached by a man posing as a courier, to whom she handed over the $8,000. Following consultation with family members, the woman discovered that her grandson had not been detained and that she had been duped.
According to the Barnegat Township Police Department's investigation, similar incidents occurred lately in Hopewell Township and Nassau County, New York.
Authorities were able to identify Peguero-Mendez and Quinones-Perez as the individuals responsible for the scamming incidents after cooperating with the Hopewell Township Police Department, the United States Department of Health and Human Services - Office of the Inspector General, and the Nassau County New York Police Department.
Peguero-Mendez also drove Quinones-Perez to the Ocean County region with the goal of obtaining cash from the victim, according to the investigation.
Peguero-Mendez and Quinones-Perez have yet to be captured, despite the fact that arrest orders have been filed for them.
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of either suspect or who feels they may have been victimized by these defendants is requested to call Officer Robert Armstrong of the Barnegat Township Police Department at 609-698-5000.
“These types of incidents should serve as a cautionary tale for all of our senior citizens here in Ocean County, as well as a reminder that unscrupulous individuals are out there just waiting to prey upon the most vulnerable members of our community,” Prosecutor Billhimer stated. “Please be vigilant in identifying these fraudulent phone calls, and recognize that any phone call or message requesting large sums of cash or wire transfers is likely a scam. These types of calls should be immediately reported to law enforcement,” Prosecutor Billhimer concluded.
Prosecutor Billhimer and Chief Germain acknowledge the Barnegat Township Police Department, Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Economic Crime Squad, United States Department of Health and Human Services - Office of the Inspector General, Hopewell Township Police Department, and Nassau County New York Police Department, for their collaborative efforts in connection with this investigation.
Barnegat Police Department
