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Police in Darien arrested Emmanuel Bazil, age 26, of Norwalk, on Friday, March 19, for the crime which took place in July 2019 in Darien, said Darien Police Sgt. James Palmieri.
According to Palmieri, a complainant contacted the police department and informed officers that the vacant home they were selling had a suspicious package delivered to it.
Earlier in the day, their real estate agent had arrived at the above address and found a package on the step addressed to that home with the name “Thomas McKnight” as the recipient and a return address from Phoenix, Arizona.
Neither the agent nor the homeowner recognized either name. Thinking there may have been an error, as the address was correct, the homeowner instructed the realtor to open the package. Inside the package was $10,000 in one-hundred-dollar bills, Palmieri said.
Detectives met with the real estate agent who turned the package and cash over to them. She informed officers that after finding the delivery, and while showing the home to prospective buyers, a man had come to the door and asked about the package.
At this time, the agent became suspicious and told the man, later identified as Bazil, that the homeowner had taken the package from the residence.
Bazil would return two more times demanding to know where the package was. The male was described as a tall, thin, black male with dreadlocks and a tattoo on his neck, Palmieri said,
Through investigation, detectives would determine that the cash had originated from an elderly victim in Maryland.
The victim had been told over the phone that her son had gotten into legal trouble, and the victim thought they were sending cash to a lawyer for his legal defense.
Further, the caller had informed the victim that there had been a “gag order” imposed and they were not to tell anyone, including the victim’s spouse.
It was determined that the victim had previously sent the cash found by the agent, in this case, $10,000 to the above address.
The victim told detectives they had been asked to send another $5,000 to an address in Haverstraw.
Detectives obtained tracking information for that package and contacted the Haverstraw Police. Officers there were able to make an arrest in their jurisdiction of the person who came to retrieve the package.
Bazil is suspected of perpetrating this and similar fraudulent incidents in the area whereby elderly victims were misled via phone causing them to send large quantities of cash to local addresses where it could then be intercepted, Palmieri said.
In July of 2019, an arrest warrant for Bazil was applied for and granted, but attempts made at that time to locate him were unsuccessful.
On March 19 Darien Police Bazil at a scheduled court date in Stamford where he was served with the arrest warrant.
Bazil was processed for the criminal attempt at larceny and remained in custody on a $100,000 bond in this case.
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