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By Times Staff | Tuesday, November 25, 2008 | (8 comment(s))
CHICAGO | Twenty Cook County Jail inmates have been charged with impersonating a police officer in fraudulent phone calls to victims in Gary, across the country and in Canada.
Audio: Listen to audio of the scam.
The offenders, charged over several days late last week, each face one count of impersonation of a police officer. If convicted, each could face one to three additional years in prison.
Among those charged, Christopher Baggett, 27, of Chicago, victimized several people in Gary on the phone, Cook County Sheriff's Department spokesman Steve Patterson said. Baggett has been in custody, charged with one count of first-degree murder.
"We had multiple calls made to Gary, and (Baggett) had identified himself as a police officer," Patterson said.
According to investigators, the scam allows inmates to effectively hijack the victim's phone number by getting the victim to forward their phone number to the jail phone, which allows the inmate to charge subsequent collect calls to the victim's home account.
The inmates conducting the scam place collect calls to random numbers and pose as a police officer. They tell whoever answers that a loved one was in an automobile accident and the victim must dial a series of numbers to reach an officer at the scene. That phone at the jail can then continue to be used by inmates until the victim contacts their phone company.
This particular investigation began in early June and concluded with the charges brought last week. Offenders charged in the investigation placed calls to random phone numbers in Chicago; Maywood; Gary; Las Vegas; Jefferson, Texas, London, Ky.; Willowville, Ohio; and Berwick, Nova Scotia. In a five-month period, the inmates were able to rack up more than $50,000 in collect calls, Patterson said.
"(But) the reality is we caught a portion of the calls being made out of the jail," he said. "There are 850 phones, 10,000 inmates, and we got 20 of them. This scam has been going on for years. It goes on at multiple jails. We know only a portion of them, but by now we know the word has spread throughout the jail that people are charged with felonies."
The Cook County Jail now has a new phone system and plans to use voice biometrics to provide a vocal fingerprint of inmates.
"The old phone system allowed inmates to reach out from behind bars to victimize people in their own homes," Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart said. "Listening to these calls is heartbreaking, especially when you hear the fear in the voices of the victims."
The Cook County Sheriff's Department has shared some audio clips from victims. In one case, offender Antoine Simmons called a Las Vegas home on July 17, shortly before noon and spoke with an 11-year-old boy who answered the phone. Simmons who has been linked to nearly 80 scam jailhouse phone calls, is successful in getting the boy to copy the fraudulent number and dial it, opening the phone line for two days and racking up $115 in fraudulent charges.
In another case, inmate Marquez Ellis called a Jefferson, Texas, home on Oct. 30 and spoke to a woman with a heart condition. She was so upset by the scam call she handed the phone to another relative who tearfully took down the phone number and begged the inmate posing as an officer to tell her that her loved ones were not dead.
Suspects charged
Cook County Jail inmates charged with felony impersonating a police officer are: Anthony Alexander, 24, of Chicago; Nicholas Akerele, 27, of Chicago; Christopher Baggett, of Chicago; Bruce Booker, 26, of Chicago; Kentrell Culbreath, 28, of Chicago; Dejean Devon, 22, of Chicago; Javon Dockery, 23, of Chicago; Markez Ellis, 26, of Chicago; Ronnie Gordon, 26, of Maywood; Kazeen Kareem, 27, of Chicago; Antonio Mathis, 24, of Chicago; Corrcail Nash, 21, of Chicago; Timothy Simmons, 30, of Dixmoor; Frank Thomas, 27, of Chicago; Donnell Turman, 18, of Chicago; Kenyhatta Williams, 26, of Chicago; Jaber Wilson, 22, of Chicago.
The offenders charged with a misdemeanor are Albert Collins, 23, of Chicago, and Timothy Simmons, of Dixmoor.
Source: Cook County Sheriff's Department
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lansingite wrote on Nov 25, 2008 11:36 AM:
Nocontact wrote on Nov 25, 2008 11:31 AM:
To Michelle wrote on Nov 25, 2008 9:57 AM:
To Finally wrote on Nov 25, 2008 9:56 AM:
Intellegence wrote on Nov 25, 2008 9:53 AM:
no phones wrote on Nov 25, 2008 9:45 AM:
Michelle wrote on Nov 25, 2008 8:27 AM:
Finally wrote on Nov 25, 2008 1:28 AM: