Prosecutors have dropped charges against two men accused of defrauding an Erie woman. This is why

When an Erie County woman fell victim to a common scam and lost $10,800 to fraudsters in May 2021, Pennsylvania State Police relied on surveillance footage and the help of store employees to identify and charge someone involved in the crime .

But the inability to preserve that video evidence and the inability to locate the now-former store employee led the Erie County District Attorney’s Office to drop criminal charges in the case.

One of two suspects charged with the crime, 50-year-old Xing Wang of Brooklyn, New York, was scheduled to appear in Erie County Common Pleas Court Monday morning for a non-jury trial on the crime of dealing with the proceeds of unlawful deed. activities, receiving stolen property, theft by deception, theft by unlawful taking and fraud with access to equipment. Wang was also charged with a misdemeanor count of impersonating a public official.

But prosecutors filed a motion to dismiss the case and submitted it to Judge John J. Mead for signature Monday before the start of the trial. Wang did not appear in court on Monday and remains in New York, according to his lawyer.

Mead signed the motion, ending the case against Wang.

More: Hammering scammers: Brooklyn couple accused of paying Erie County woman $10,800

The prosecution lost evidence, witness

According to the motion, state police recently learned that nearly all of the digital evidence collected in the case was not preserved by a law enforcement agency in New Jersey where the alleged criminal acts occurred. The motion also states that a key witness who observed the alleged actions in the case and who officials confirmed was an employee of Walmart in New Jersey no longer works for the company and cannot be located to testify.

“Without this evidence or information, the Commonwealth would be unable to meet its burden at trial,” the motion reads.

The motion additionally noted that the District Attorney’s Office and state police have repeatedly attempted to contact the alleged victim as she would be a critical witness at trial. But those attempts were unsuccessful.

According to court records, Wang was released on a $25,000 bond he posted two weeks after he was indicted on criminal charges in September 2022. Police said Wang was arrested during a traffic stop in New York.

The second suspect accused of the crime, 51-year-old Rongjiao Li of Brooklyn, was never apprehended in the case. The charges against Li were still listed as inactive as of Monday afternoon.

What common scam hooked the woman?

Authorities said the victim in the case fell prey to a scam in which she received a phone call from an individual claiming to be a member of the Erie County Sheriff’s Office and was told criminal charges were pending against her. According to police, the woman was told she had to pay money to have the charges dropped.

The scam has been around for a long time and has victimized a number of people in recent years, according to the Erie County Sheriff’s Office. Authorities say identifying the perpetrators of the crime could be difficult.

After Wang and Li were charged, state police said they did not believe the suspects knew the victim but that they appeared to be calling randomly.

When the woman was first approached by a man who said he was from the Erie County Sheriff’s Office on May 21, 2021, the woman thought she was being scammed and hung up, state police said. But she reportedly took the claim seriously when the person called back and told the woman she had to pay $10,000 to clear the charges, investigators said.

Police said what likely led the woman to believe the call was legitimate was that the phone number that appeared on her caller ID was a number associated with the county sheriff’s office, indicating that the scammers were using the caller ID manipulated.

The woman sent $8,800 via Bitcoin as instructed, then purchased $2,000 worth of Sam’s Club gift cards and gave the caller the gift card numbers, according to information in the criminal complaint filed against Wang and Li.

More: A New York man accused of charging an Erie County woman $10,000 in fraud waives criminal charges

How did state police identify suspects?

Investigators obtained the Sam’s Club gift card numbers and tracked their use at Walmart stores in Marlton, New Jersey and in Berlin, New Jersey, on May 21. They also learned that the suspects left those stores in a Toyota Prius that investigators said was registered. Cheek. , as shown by the information in the complaints.

Authorities said the Bitcoin was untraceable.

Police collected surveillance footage from the Walmart stores but initially only knew from the video that a man and a woman were involved, an investigator said after Wang and Li were charged. Wang and Li were ultimately identified as suspects through information generated using Walmart loss prevention, investigators said.

Contact Tim Hahn at [email protected]. Follow him on X @ETNhahn.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie County DA drops arrest fraud charges that cost woman $10,800