SEDRO-WOOLLEY, Wash. — Authorities in Washington state have released new details about a fraud case that led to the arrest of a Miami Shores Police Department detective on Thursday. They said it involved seven figures stolen from a senior and “a large number of additional victims.”
Detective Shmueal Mauda, 36, of Pembroke Pines, was arrested in Davie on five identity theft charges out of Washington state. Mauda, also known as Sam Mauda, was later placed on unpaid leave from MSPD.
He was taken into custody along with two co-defendants, including a man sharing the same last name: Elisha Mauda, 39, also of Pembroke Pines; it’s unclear how the two may be related.
What is now clear, however, is exactly where the charges originate from: The small town of Sedro-Woolley, Washington, located a little more than 60 miles north of Seattle.
According to police, the Maudas, alongside the second co-defendant, Brent Small, 58, of Airmont, New York, are suspected in a fraud case reported to authorities earlier in the year. Small was taken into custody in Davie at the same time as the Maudas.
Sedro-Woolley police said the senior, who lives in the town, told investigators that more than $1 million had been taken from his account.
Detectives “have served over 50 search warrants related to this case, allowing (them) to follow the stolen money as it was moved electronically through multiple companies and multiple bank accounts,” according to police.
Authorities said they “also determined who had accessed the victim’s bank account and who moved the money (and) found further victims who resided at several other locations across the United States.”
“With the cooperation of the FBI and the United States Postal Service, it was found that the Davie Police Department in Florida had unknown parallel investigations involving the same suspects and a large number of additional victims,” an SWPD news release states.
The Maudas, along with Small, remain jailed in Broward County pending extradition to the Evergreen State. It wasn’t immediately clear whether they will be facing additional state or federal charges.
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