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The incident unfolded around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday when a resident on Sterling Street reported to Fairfield Police that she had received a suspicious package containing $4,000 in cash, said Fairfield Police Lt. Robert Kalamaras.
Officers responded to investigate and determined that earlier in the day, the package was handed off to a male who was wearing a FedEx shirt who said the package was improperly delivered. The resident gave the package to the male but thought it was suspicious and called the police to report it, Kalamaras said.
Early the next morning around 7:30 a.m. Thursday, the same resident call 911 to report that there was a package delivered to her door again and she could see a man walking away from his vehicle approaching her house. Officers immediately responded and located the vehicle a short distance away, Kalamaras added.
Police were able to nab Carlos Morel-Abreu, 31, and Jose Mercedes-Sanchez, 29, both of Patterson, for possession of MDMA, or Ecstasy, pills located inside the vehicle.
The second package that was delivered was seized by officers and contained an additional $8,000 in cash. Further investigation into the packages revealed that an elderly female in Columbus, Ohio was scammed.
Kalamaras said a few days earlier, the elderly victim received a call in which the caller gave her a story that her son was arrested in Connecticut and they needed money to get him out of jail.
The elderly victim, convinced of this story, packaged up the cash and followed the instructions given by the caller. He later called again and convinced her to send an additional amount to the same address. This package was recovered by officers.
The Fairfield Police Detective Bureau is currently investigating the involvement of the two arrested individuals and their relationship to the packages, he added.
Detectives are also currently making arrangements to return the recovered $8,000 to the elderly victim in Ohio.
Anyone with information regarding this elderly scam is asked to call the Fairfield Police Department Detective Bureau at 203-254-4840 or Text-A-Tip to CRIMES (274637).
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