Friday, December 23, 2005

Local accused in Western Union theft

By TIM MCGLONE, The Virginian-Pilot

NORFOLK — Federal authorities are rounding up suspects in a sophisticated fraud involving the theft of

$1.5 million from Western Union, officials said Thursday.

In a 57-count indictment, the FBI alleges that a local cheese steak shop owner led the operation by conducting more than 1,600 fraudulent wire money transfers at Western Union offices from Virginia Beach to California and Canada over the past two years.

Alvin Ross Johns of Hampton and eight other suspects are scheduled to be arraigned in U.S. District Court on Jan. 11. Three suspects were arrested locally this week and another was picked up in California. Johns was arrested in September and jailed without bond. He has not yet entered a plea.

Authorities said the scheme was a family affair. Johns’ wife, brother-in-law and father-in-law also are charged in the indictment. His son faces similar charges in New York, though not directly related to this case.

Johns is accused of using the proceeds to buy fancy cars, but most of the cash remains unaccounted for. Attorneys in the Federal Public Defender’s Office, which represents Johns, declined to comment Thursday.

The FBI said the suspects attempted to steal even more money from Western Union. FBI Special Agent Jason Watson testified at Johns’ Oct. 7 bond hearing that agents tracked another 800 fraudulent wire transfers that would have netted more than $500,000 , but those transactions failed.

The FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment beyond what was said in court or in court records.

Western Union officials did not respond to questions Thursday.

The indictment, handed up Dec. 15, said Johns and the other suspects used a series of schemes to defraud Western Union, a company that manages 225,000 money transfer offices worldwide, most located in stores, airports and banks.

In most cases, the indictment said, Johns would call a Western Union office and pretend to be a company employee. He would tell the agent that a money transfer order had incorrect information on it, such as a wrong spelling or a wrong amount, and ask that a new order be entered with the correct information, the indictment says. There never was, however, a transfer order to begin with, the papers say.

In other instances, Johns would call a Western Union toll-free number and complete an initial wire transfer order by providing a phony name and address and cash amount, the indictment says. In return, he would get a personal identification number needed to complete the process, the papers say.

He would then call another agent, again impersonating a Western Union employee, and claim that the transfer order was “frozen” in the system and convince the agent to complete a new money order, the papers allege. An accomplice would then arrive on the receiving end and retrieve the cash.

Johns and his codefendants conducted these transactions throughout Hampton Roads and in 42 other states and Canada, the indictment says.

Western Union security officials began noticing a pattern of fraudulent money transfer orders in Virginia and New York in early 2004, almost a year after the crimes began, the FBI said. They called the FBI that July, and phone records were traced to Johns’ home, court papers say.

FBI agents began surveillance of Johns, picking through his garbage and tracing his phone calls, the records state.

The FBI learned that Johns purchased with cash a $40,000 Chrysler sedan in March, a $20,000 used SUV in July 2004 and a $20,000 used Lincoln Navigator in June 2004, the records say. The FBI seized the vehicles.

Johns and his wife, codefendant Suncheray Johns, are listed in court records as the co-owners of Altaz Philly Cheesesteak in Hampton.

posted by Tata @ 12/23/2005 11:30:00 AM   0 comments  

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