JACKSON TOWNSHIP, LUZERNE COUNTY(WBRE/WYOU)— A man is being charged after allegedly scamming an elderly couple for almost $10,000.
According to police, 20-year-old Cristopher Enmanuel Mauricio from Philadelphia called an 87-year-old husband and 85-year-old wife to inform them their grandson had been arrested and needed $9,600 to be bailed out.
Investigators say the couple received a call from a male pretending to be the lawyer for their grandson stating he needed $9,600 cash in order to be bailed out and they will send a bondsman to pick up the cash.
On June 21, 2022, Mauricio approached the couple’s residences to pick up the cash and left, police say.
Jackson Township police said the couple later called their grandson who told them he had not been arrested.
Officers said Mauricio told investigators in an interview he had been working for someone else and was told to pick up money from various locations throughout Pennsylvania.
Through further investigation, police say they obtained a search warrant for Mauricio’s phone that showed a pin drop to the couple’s residence as well as videos of him picking up the cash and counting it.
Mauricio picked up $9,600 cash from the couple but gave officers $16,000 cash in an envelope, as noted in the police report.
Investigators mention they had been investigating similar theft in the area known as “grandparent scams.”
Mauricio has been charged with theft by deception, receiving stolen property, criminal use of communication, and other related criminal conspiracy charges.
