Three people from Colombia have been arrested in connection with a lottery winnings scam that targeted an elderly woman in Fontana.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department stated that on Feb. 20, a 72-year-old woman was approached by two female suspects while shopping in Montclair.
“The suspects coerced the elderly victim into believing that the suspects had recently won a lottery jackpot but needed the victim’s assistance with collecting the money,” SBSD said in a release. “The suspects gained cooperation from the victim and directed her to drive them all to her bank.”
After driving to the bank, the victim withdrew $18,000 in cash from her bank account and told the suspects she had an additional $2,000 at her Fontana residence, which she later gave them.
“Before the two female suspects were picked up by additional suspects in a white Kia Sorrento, they gave the victim a package and told her it contained her portion of the lottery winnings,” the SBSD release said. “When the victim opened the package, she found it was filled with cut up newspapers.”
When the victim called authorities, deputies responded and quickly determined that she had been targeted because of her age. One deputy is credited with developing leads that resulted in authorities identifying the suspects’ Kia Sorrento.
On Tuesday, police in Fullerton stopped the Kia and took three people into custody.
The suspects were identified as Rosalba Bernal-Sanchez, 60, Jairo Naranjo-Lopez, 58, and Kevin Prieto-Bernal, 21. All three are said to be citizens of Colombia, and Prieto-Bernal was found to have a felony warrant for burglary in Illinois; he was also found to be on felony probation for burglary in Minnesota, SBSD said.
“Detectives recovered a large amount of physical evidence linking the suspects to this investigation,” SBSD said, although they did not elaborate on what exact evidence was found. “The investigation is ongoing and detectives are working to identify the second female suspect.”
The suspects are facing charges including elder abuse, theft by fraud and grand theft, according to authorities.
Detectives believe there are additional victims of these suspects, and anyone with information on this case – or who may have been victimized by these suspects – should contact the Fontana Sheriff’s Station at 909-356-6710. To submit an anonymous tip, call We-Tip (1-800-782-7463) or visit www.wetip.com
