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William Coleman, 50, of Orange Park, Florida, has been arrested and is in custody following his arrest earlier this week in Orlando after he allegedly ran a scheme involving elderly women in Maryland.
According to the Prince George's County Police Department, "a pigeon drop scam involves convincing a victim to give the suspect a large amount of cash as collateral with the hope of then sharing a larger sum of money."
There have been nine similar schemes reported in the county so far this year.
In Coleman's case, he is facing charges for a pair of incidents, one of which was successful and left his pockets lined with thousands of dollars. The second was less so and the victim wasn't robbed of any cash.
The successful scam was reported on Thursday, June 8 in District Heights, and the unsuccessful attempt was run a week earlier in Mitchellville.
Investigators say that the investigation into the scheme led them to identify Coleman as a suspect, and when he was arrested on Tuesday, Sept. 26, detectives recovered evidence of the scams that included more than $100,000 in counterfeit cash in his Florida home.
"Pigeon drop scammers often carry notes or fake letters from non-existent law firms confirming the receipt of a large amount of money from either a settlement or inheritance," they added. "A letter of this nature was recovered inside of Coleman’s car."
Another suspicious item - a newspaper wrapped in a bandana - was also seized at Coleman's home.
"In many pigeon drop scams, scammers use bandanas to wrap the money a victim withdraws from his or her bank," a police spokesperson explained. "Scammers then swap out the money for bundled newspaper unbeknownst to the victims."
Coleman is being held in custody following his arrest in Florida, pending his extradition back to Maryland to face charges in Prince George's County.
Prince George's County Police Chief Malik Aziz says that they are now looking to determine if Coleman worked with any other schemers.
"These crimes target some of the most vulnerable in our community. I want residents in Prince George’s County to know our detectives work relentlessly to identify and arrest suspects in these scams," he said.
"Regarding Coleman, we do not believe he acted alone and that he worked with accomplices," Aziz continued. Detectives are looking into whether he is linked to similar crimes along the East Coast."
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