Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Kosciusko County Sheriff's Office (KCSO) is warning the community about fraud.
KCSO Det. Lt. Joshua Spangle spoke to the KCSO merit board on Thursday about a "continual rise" in the number of fraud cases. There have been several cases where victims have had over $100,000 in losses.
The KCSO wants citizens to know that they will research the legitimacy of people and offers that may be received and understand that it can be embarrassing to talk about these topics with friends and family.
Spangle said perpetrators of fraud target "lonely, older people in our community."
In almost every case, the scammer requests gift cards. The sheriff’s office points out that this can be used as a red flag before getting more involved with a scammer.
One recent fraud victim sent $30,000 in cash by mail to a scammer in Nigeria. The perpetrator had convinced her that they were dating, and the victim fell in love with him. The victim's son had to get a loan from the bank because she was unable to make her mortgage payments and was going to lose her house.
Perpetrators are often outside of their jurisdiction and cases are typically passed to the FBI. In the rare cases that they are able to arrest someone locally for their involvement in fraud, it is not the perpetrator, but a money mule, somebody who already fell for the fraud and is now working for them.
Spangle urges people to think critically and to "walk away when the situation seems too good to be true."
In other business, school resource officer Rick Shepherd will be retiring from Tippecanoe Valley High School. Shepherd will be staying with KCSO and continuing his service to the community by working in court security. Shepherd has been with TVHS for 16 years.
Wednesday was the Citizens’ Academy's first night in session. It was discontinued due to COVID-19, but Sheriff Jim Smith personally pushed to have it brought back after he was elected. Smith himself was a graduate of the program before he joined law enforcement.
The Kosciusko Community Recovery Program also had a public event on Monday at the Zimmer Biomet Pavilion, with 72 people in attendance. Two KCRP participants, a former inmate from 16 years ago who is now a therapist, and Stephanie Godsey from reentry court were there as guest speakers to discuss the difficulties of reentry and transition.
KCRP also reports that since July 2024, they have had 146 people receive services through KCRP, 106 of these participants are fully released from the system, and only 12 have returned after going through the program. Smith said that they will continue to "keep ramping it up and making it better."
