Four New Jersey men were arrested in Russell Gardens on Monday for attempting to scam a 75-year-old man out of more than $15,000, according to the Nassau County Police Department.
Detectives said an unknown male contacted a 75-year-old man in Russell Gardens, whose name was not disclosed by the police, pretending to be his son. The male claimed he had been arrested after being involved in a car accident that left someone injured in Reddington, Pennsylvania, officials said.
The impersonator gave the Russell Gardens man an arrest number and told him someone from the public defender’s office would be reaching out with bail instructions, according to officials. Later, the Russell Gardens man received a call from a woman demanding $15,500 in exchange for his son’s release, according to officials. The man was told to call back when he had the money so someone could pick it up, officials said.
After the man withdrew the funds from the bank, officials said, he called his son to check on how he was doing. His son informed him that he had not been arrested and was in Manhattan, according to a Police Department news release.
The police were then contacted and arranged for a transaction to take place so they could lure in the scammers, officials said. Four men in a gray Honda parked down the block from the Russell Gardens man’s home. One man exited the vehicle and went to the door, where he received an envelope from the Russell Gardens man, officials said.
Officials ultimately arrested 22-year-old Alvin Ruffino of Passaic, New Jersey, after he resisted arrest, according to the news release. The three other men in the car, Darwin Marcano Jimenez, Jose Soriano and Engel Paulino Gomez, all from Passaic as well, were subsequently arrested too, officials said.
All four were charged with attempted grand larceny in the third degree, according to the news release. Rufino faces an additional charge of resisting arrest, and Gomez faces an additional charge of criminal possession of a forged instrument.
The four were arraigned on Tuesday in Mineola, but efforts to reach officials for an update on the case were unavailing.
