SPARTA, Mich. — A Sparta couple's bank fraud complaint led to a multi-state investigation and to the arrest of a Georgia man, who is facing at least 19 counts of financial transaction card fraud.
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The married couple contacted Sparta Police in early January after falling victim to a phone scam.
"Someone called a customer of a credit union claiming to be from the Fraud Division at that credit union. Through the conversation, they were able to trick that person into believing they were legitimate and provide information that they were then able to exploit," said Sparta Police Department Sgt. David Price.
Investigators traced the suspect's activity to Georgia, where he had purchased gift cards using the victims' money. Sparta police contacted a police department in Georgia, which quickly developed a suspect.
"In this case, we actually had locations that we were able to request a follow-up to see if there is video footage. We contacted the Douglas, Georgia Police Department, and they quickly got on the investigation and developed suspect information," Price said.
Douglas police obtained a search warrant for the suspect's home, where investigators found several credit cards, receipts, and emails from multiple people, according to Douglas Police Department Sgt. Rigo Victoria.
"Then our special response team went and conducted a search warrant at his house and found several credit cards, receipts, and emails from different people," Victoria said.
The suspect was not home at the time of the raid. With the help of the Coffee County Sheriff's Office, authorities tracked the suspect and his truck to Florida.
"That's when our sheriff's office got in coordination with the Florida Highway Patrol, and they tracked him down via a helicopter, they found his vehicle, got him on a traffic stop," Victoria said.
The 32-year-old male suspect will be prosecuted in Georgia.
Price said the case is an example of the value of thorough investigation.
"These smaller crimes, when we investigate them, can snowball into bigger things. So, it just shows the value of digging anytime you can to get more information. In this case, it really paid off," he said.
Price also noted that cases like this often don't end well for investigators.
"These are very common complaints that we take, and it's very common to have bad results with the investigation," he said.
Four law enforcement departments across three states were involved in the arrest.
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