On Tuesday Greenwich Police arrested a Norwalk man in connection with a scam involving victims told to send packages of money mail to houses in foreclosure. The suspect’s scam came to an end when he picked a house in Greenwich in foreclosure on Doubling Rd.
The scheme came to light when on April 2 Suffolk County NY Detectives notified Greenwich Police of a victim who was scammed out of $81,000 by an unknown man who called saying she needed to help her nephew who was arrested.
The elderly victim recently sent several UPS packages to various towns in Fairfield County at the man’s instruction.
On Tuesday the man again contacted the victim instructing her to send $20,000 to a house in Doubling Rd.
At that point the victim went to Suffolk County Police to make a complaint.
The woman sent the package as instructed but, this time she did not include money.
Greenwich and Suffolk County officers set up surveillance in the area and observed a black Ford Focus driven by a man, later identified as Emmanuel Bazil, 25, of 29 Nash Place in Norwalk, in the area of the foreclosed house.
When UPS attempted to deliver the package, the driver tried to wave him down for the package, but the UPS driver refused to stop until he reached the house. The man told the UPS driver he was the recipient of the package.
As Greenwich took Police Bazil into custody, they detected the strong odor of marijuana in the Ford Focus. Three blunts were located, weighing 3.11 grams and later testing positive for marijuana.
Also, inside the vehicle were several pieces of mail that were not Bazil’s, which he later admitted to stealing.
Police found an envelop with a Stamford address in the car’s hidden compartment for the spare tire. Inside the envelope was $9,000 sent by elderly victims of a similar scam who reside in California. Bazil admitted to taking the package from a Stamford address earlier in the day.
Investigation revealed other scheduled pick up locations, and an additional package in Stamford containing $12,000 in cash was recovered.
Bazil was charged with Illegal Possession Marijuana, Simple Trespass, Criminal Attempt Larceny 1, Larceny 2, Embezzlement with Victim over 60/blind/disabled, Larceny 3 and Larceny 6.
His bond was set at $250,000 and he was assigned a date in Stamford Superior Court on April 17, 2019.