$25,000 Stolen from Elderly Victim – Most Recovered

The Tangipahoa Parish Sheriffs Office Financial Crimes Unit,  led by Detectives Travis Pitman and Michael D'Amato, have been able to recover most of the $25,000 taken fraudulently from an elderly victim.

The case was initiated on July 20, 2018 by a complaint from an elderly person's family member. The complainant had been contacted by the victim's bank about suspicious withdrawals from the victim's account. Detectives found that a $25,000 cashier's check from the victim's bank account was deposited into an account in Union, New Jersey. TPSO detectives obtained a search warrant and an asset seizure warrant and were able to recover $21,846.22 of the victims money before the alleged rotten scoundrels were able to liquidate the funds into cash.

TPSO detectives were also able to identify the alleged scoundrel as Luis Alicea (71) of New Jersey as the person who deposited the funds into the account. The Township of Union Police Department and the Union County Prosecutors Office have been notified and were given all of the information obtained for their continued investigation into this matter. The fraud scheme used in this case is known as a Jamaican Lottery Scam.  It targets elderly members of the community who have access to large sums of liquid assets.

On August 7, 2018, the hero detectives met with the victim's family and turned over the  recovered stolen funds in the amount of $21,846.22.

The Tangipahoa Parish Sheriffs Office extends a special thanks to the banking personnel at Whitney / Hancock Bank who assisted in the investigation.



Pictured from left to right are TPSO Financial Crime Detectives Michael D'Amato, Travis Pitman, and Wanda Ledoux.