Sunday, April 26, 2009

Elderly Scam Gypsies

NV - More victims are contacting police to say they were scammed by two people targeting the elderly.

Judy Stevens, one of the suspects, was in court for an appearance on robbery charges. Her bail was set at $100,000. She and Rick Shawn are accused of stealing at least $91,000 from more than a dozen elderly victims.

Police now say Shawn and Stevens conned at least 19 people over the age of 73 years old in the Las Vegas Valley.

Las Vegas Metro Police now believe that the con may be a family affair. Police sources say relatives of Rick Shawn may be involved in scamming the elderly. This new information comes as Judy Stevens went to court and got a judge to reduce her bail.

CrimeStoppers photos were released in May of 2008. Police say the couple targeted the elderly and the man in the picture may be a close relative of Shawn.

Shawn is also accused of befriending a 79-year-old man suffering from dementia in Cyrpress, California and talking him into handing over $19,000. Shawn is also under investigation in Washinton, Oregon and Arizona.

Police believe there may be more victims who haven't come forward. Investigators are asking them to call the Metro Financial Crimes Unit at 828-3285.

Full Article and Source:
More Details Emerge in Elderly Scam

7 comments:

  1. This makes me sick. I hope an example is made of these two predators.

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  2. Reform is not in their vocabulary. Lock them up and take them off the streets.

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  3. It's like they can smell vulnerabilty -- like fleas can smell dogs and then they pounce.

    Sick, sick, sick.

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  4. I'd like to see them get a taste of their own medicine!

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  5. This man scammed my 92 year old father out of $17,000 in Feb. 2009 by pretending to be the son of a neighbor and telling Dad that his neighbor/friend was in the hospital and could not get home unless they borrowed some money from my Dad to pay the hospital bill. He asked my Dad to come with him to the hospital, but instead drove him to a casino and forced him to withdraw cash on several credit cards and bank cards. Then he left my Dad there with no money. My 92 yr old senior Dad had to "bum" a ride home to Henderson - at night after that ordeal (can you imagine??) The only reason he did not go to the police immediately is that he still thought this man was his neighbor's son and did not want to get him in trouble. When my Dad found out the truth - he lived in fear that this creep would come back for him. You can not imagine how much this aged my Dad and what a toll it has taken on him, not to mention the expense in buying a new home, moving, etc. Criminals like these two will never reform, because they truly don't feel remorse. They continued their crime spree until they got caught. They are a danger to society and deserve to be incarcerated forever. His trial is this month and I hope that the judge/jury will protect our seniors from these predators by locking them up.

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