Two Killeen men charged with financial exploitation of 78-year-old man in Missouri

By Joe Ashley

KILLEEN, Texas (KWTX) - Two Killeen men are charged with financial exploitation after allegedly stealing thousands of dollars from a 78-year-old man in Jefferson City, Missouri.

Brandon Lamar Martin and Tarus Delynn Prince have been charged with fraud-financial exploitation of an elderly person and stealing $750 or more.

On Jan. 12, Jefferson City Police Department (JCPD) officers responded to a victim’s home for a fraud investigation after the victim claimed he was scammed out of $40,900, according to a probable cause statement.

The victim told police he was using his laptop on Jan. 9 when he accidentally clicked on a “pop-up” advertisement, causing his computer to lockup.

The pop-up window said the computer was infected with a virus and provided a phone number for the victim to call that claimed to be Microsoft’s technical support, according to the statement.

The victim called the number on the pop-up and spoke with a man named “James” who told the victim his contact information would be forwarded to a Microsoft fraud investigator.

On Jan. 10, the victim received a call from a man named “Steve” who claimed to be an investigator with Microsoft’s fraud department.

“Steve” said he could remove the virus if the victim provided personal information, according to the statement.

After the victim gave “Steve” the information, the statement alleges the victim watched as someone remotely accessed his laptop.

The victim saw someone gain access to his Missouri Credit Union (MCU) banking account and begin moving funds between the checking and savings accounts, according to the statement.

“Steve” then told the victim to go to the bank and withdraw $16,400 to help with restoring the laptop’s systems, according to the statement.

The victim said “Steve” asked him to remain on the phone while the victim was withdrawing the money.

After the victim withdrew the money, “Steve” told him that a runner would come to his house and provide a password to collect the money, the statement alleges.

The following day “Steve” called the victim again, this time requesting the victim withdraw $24,500.

The victim repeated the process, and this time a different runner came to collect the funds.

MCU’s fraud department director called the victim to ask why he withdrew so much money and explained the to the victim that he had been defrauded, according to the statement.

Investigators with the JCPD were assigned the case and arranged an interview with the victim on Jan. 17.

When police met with the victim, he informed police that “Steve” had continued calling him and asking him to withdraw more money, the statement alleges.

While police were at the victim’s home “Steve” called the victim to ask for $20,000 and police devised a plan to simulate a bank trip.

Police brought the victim to the JCPD and pretended to do the bank transaction while “Steve” was on the phone.

Again, “Steve” told the victim a runner would come by to collect the money. Police recorded the entire conversation while “Steve” was on the phone, according to the statement.

Police coordinated with the victim to be able to have officers wait at his home for the runner to arrive in order to arrest them.

When the runner arrived, both Martin and Prince were arrested by police. During the arrest, the statement alleges police found $4,183 on Martin and paper bands with different amounts of money.

While being questioned by police, Prince told authorities that Martin owned restaurants in Texas and other states and was in Missouri attempting to franchise the restaurant, the statement alleges.

While Martin was being questioned, he told police that he was involved in illegal gambling and card games in Texas and had a significant amount of debt, according to the statement.

Martin claimed he met a group of men from India who told him of a way to make money.

The group told Martin he would go to cities across the U.S and collect money from people paying off their own gambling debts, the statement alleges.

Martin was contacted by a man named “Alex” through WhatsApp and given an address and how much money he was supposed to collect, according to the statement.

Martin told police he and Prince left their homes in Killeen to drive to the victim’s home, the statement alleges.

According to the statement, Martin claimed he had done multiple pickups on people between the age of 50 and 65-years-old.

Martin gave the police consent to search his phone and several messages were found from “Alex” detailing information about the pickups, the statement alleges.

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Two Killeen men charged with financial exploitation of 78-year-old man in Missouri