Fill out this form to email this article to a friend
Briefs
Tarpon man charged in disability scam
By Times Staff Writer
Published December 30, 2005
TARPON SPRINGS - Police have arrested a one-legged man accused of using his disability to scam two people out of $1,190.
Cedric Mitchell Randolph, 34, had recently moved to Tarpon Springs from St. Petersburg, police said. Officer William Peters on Wednesday spoke with two people who said they had been victims of a scam the previous day. Randolph, who also uses the name Cedric Mitchell Smith, persuaded people to help him after telling them he had a wire transfer coming in and needed a bank account to receive the money, police said.
He made a total of $88,648 in fraudulent deposits to the victims' accounts at Wachovia and Bank of America, then persuaded them to use an ATM to withdraw $1,190 from their accounts and give it to him. During the investigation, police learned Randolph faced eight warrants for arrest in connection with passing bad checks in Pinellas. He was charged with grand theft, making a deposit with the intent to defraud, uttering a forged instrument and obtaining property in return for worthless checks. He was appointed a public defender, entered a plea of not guilty and was being held at the county jail Thursday in lieu of $62,000 bail.
[Last modified December 30, 2005, 00:57:15]
Share your thoughts on this story
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
|
News
Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
Print
Email story
Comment
Email editor