Polk County Sheriff’s Office detectives arrested eight suspects in connection to a multi-million dollar fraud investigation impacting 235 victims across various states and totaling $8.8 million in stolen funds. The Florida Attorney General’s Office of Statewide Prosecution, the Florida Attorney General’s Cyber Fraud Enforcement Unit, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and detectives from the Maryland State Police, Virginia State Police, Allegany County Sheriff’s Office (MD), and Florissant Police (MO), assisted in the investigation. The suspects who lived outside of Florida had Polk County warrants issued for their arrests, and they have all been extradited and booked into the Polk County Jail.
The victims were mainly targeted due to the fact that they were elderly. The suspects transferred money into accounts the suspects opened and then either disbursed amongst themselves, or made purchases such as new cars.
The investigation began in April 2023, when Synchrony banks noticed suspicious activity tied to a newly opened account belonging to 27 year-old Michael Nevarez of Lakeland. The account, opened one month earlier, received a $250,000 transfer from another bank and the funds were quickly dispersed to other accounts:
- $25,000 was transferred to Nevarez’s personal Suncoast Credit Union account and taken out in cash over the following days.
- $54,710.98 was sent to several accounts linked to 26 year-old Roshado Durrant from Lakeland.
- $763.11 was sent to an account belonging to 23 year-old Hassan Phillips from Maryland.
- The remainder was transferred to Nevarez’s other personal accounts.
- Detectives also found links to 25 year-old Kevin Clayton of Lakeland who opened a Synchrony bank account around the same time as Nevarez and was also receiving large amounts from bank accounts ranging from $15,000 to $54,000. Clayton was also transferring these funds from his Synchrony bank account to his own personal accounts. Clayton is in the country illegally from Jamaica.
As the investigation progressed, detectives discovered incriminating messages, emails, and images between the suspects discussing the stolen funds.
Detectives were able to identify the source of the stolen account information as coming from three bank employees in Maryland. 65 year-old Barbara Frazee and 57 year-old Camala Shafer were 35+ year veteran employees at this bank with full access to customer data. 32 year year-old Antonio Penn, a 5-year employee from the same branch, did not have authorized access but according to evidence, would ask Frazee and Shafer to log in, then he would take photos of account details and login credentials. He sold this information via an encrypted messaging mobile app called Telegram, enabling the suspects to commit large-scale fraud. The bank that employed the three victims was completely cooperative during the investigation…