East Hampton Police Announce 10 Arrests

East Hampton Police are continuing a two-year long financial fraud investigation that has resulted in the arrest of 10 people involved with defrauding the town of East Hampton. Seven of those people have been convicted according to police in a press release. Three still have charges pending, including Doris Perry, 25, of Middletown. Perry, an upper level affiliate of the organization, was arrested Tuesday. According to police, she was charged with first-degree larceny, first-degree conspiracy to commit larceny and destruction of evidence.

Investigation, networking and intelligence sharing with other police agencies, including The Connecticut Financial Crimes Task Force, The U.S. Secret Service, and East Hartford, Newington, Middletown, West Haven, New Britain, Greenwich, Hartford and Avon Police Departments has resulted in cooperative and organized police effort that uncovered an organized plot to defraud the affected municipal bank accounts in which the following pattern has been found in all of the related cases:

• A recruiter from the organization finds a willing casher, usually a destitute person from the streets, who has an identification card, and is willing to cash checks for financial gain.
• Once the casher commits to be involved, the recruiter text messages the casher's personal identification information to the check producer of the organization.
• That personal identifying information is then used to fabricate a fraudulent check on one or more of the affected municipal bank accounts.
• Each of the checks are made out for random amounts that are close to, but less than, $1,000.
• The recruiter obtains the fraudulent check and provides it to the casher.
• The recruiter then transports the casher to a Bank of America branch that is located in a city or town that is sufficiently remote from any of the affected municipalities.
• The casher cashes the check at the bank branch and returns to the recruiter with the cash.
• The casher is then paid a nominal amount for their services and the majority of the money is left with the recruiter. The recruiter takes his share and later transfers the remainder of the money to the upper operatives in the organization. 

According to police, the financial losses sustained by the towns were:

East Hampton, $9,863.98; Avon, $16,010.66; East Hartford, $12,048.61; Newington, $14,200.08, for a total of $52,623.33.

The fraud was committed and the losses were incurred in periods as short as two days in duration. Checks would then be fabricated against another targeted account. The targeted accounts changed quickly so that the offenders would generally be done defrauding accounts before the losses were detected. Related investigations into fraud from private accounts, perpetrated by the same organization of offenders is ongoing.

Officer Kevin Wilcox is the lead investigator from the East Hampton Police Department. He works with investigators from the other agencies in a task force concept. The overall investigative effort has resulted in the arrests of 26 people, according to police. The investigation is ongoing. Additional arrests are anticipated.

In addition to Perry, the nine other people arrested by East Hampton Police and their charges are:

Antonio Colon, 46, of New Britain. First-degree forgery, fifth-degree larceny and fifth-degree conspiracy to commit larceny.

Rachel Sweeney, 39, of Middletown. First-degree forgery, fifth-degree larceny and fifth-degree conspiracy to commit larceny.

James B. Anthony, 58, of Middletown. First-degree forgery, fifth-degree larceny and fifth-degree conspiracy to commit larceny.

Sherry Webster, 23, of Waterbury. First-degree forgery, fifth-degree larceny and fifth-degree conspiracy to commit larceny.

Wilfredo Rivera, 23, of Hartford. Two counts each of first-degree forgery, fifth-degree larceny and fifth-degree conspiracy to commit larceny.

Terrilynn Sullivan, 42, of Clinton. Three counts each of first-degree forgery, fifth-degree larceny and fifth-degree conspiracy to commit larceny.

Ebony Lockhart, 41, of Middletown. Two counts each of first-degree forgery, fifth-degree larceny and fifth-degree conspiracy to commit larceny.

Yolanda Jones, 27, of Middletown. First-degree conspiracy to commit larceny and first-degree aiding in the commission of larceny.

Claudia Ramirez, 28, of Middletown. First-degree conspiracy to commit larceny and first-degree aiding in the commission of larceny.