TOMS RIVER, N.J. – An arrest warrant has been issued for a Florida man who was accused of posing as an attorney and scamming a senior citizen in New Jersey out of $10,000, officials said.
Juan Piedrahita, 49, of Hollywood, Florida, earlier this month called the victim and said his nephew had been arrested after a motor vehicle accident and needed money for bail, the Ocean County prosecutor said.
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Piedrahita then posed as a courier to collect the money in a pharmacy parking lot in Barnegat Township, officials said.
The victim was contacted again and told another $10,000 was needed, authorities said.
Bank staff became suspicious and questioned the victim, who then contacted his nephew and learned he had not been in an accident or arrested, the prosecutor said.
Detectives reviewed surveillance footage which captured the vehicle Piedrahita had rented at Newark Liberty International Airport to confirm Piedrahita’s identity, the prosecutor said.
He faces a theft by deception charge.
Piedrahita’s whereabouts were not known.