A Gwinnett County small business owner targeted for extortion says he’s relieved the alleged thieves couldn’t get away with the $250,000 he says police tried to steal.
According to Gwinnett County police, a man posing as John Ramirez, co-owner of Progressive Recycling in Norcross, attempted to withdraw $250,000 from Ramirez’s business account at a Bank of America on Peachtree Parkway last May.
The transfer was stopped before it reached the suspect’s account.
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“[It was] because we found out, not the bank,” Ramirez said Matt Johnson, Channel 2’s Gwinnett County bureau chief. “The bank knew nothing about it.”
The suspect, now identified as Carlos Garcia, approached a bank teller claiming to be Ramirez, using a fake ID, according to police.
Garcia and another man were able to walk in and out of the bank within seven minutes, Ramirez said.
They left the bank thinking they had successfully transferred the money from Ramirez’s account to their own.
Ramirez confirmed that he had “never seen him before.”
The investigation points to a larger extortion scheme involving five people, with two known victims and $420,000 in attempted thefts.
Police on Tuesday arrested John Barber, the fourth person allegedly involved in the scheme.
Garcia, Tyler Felty, Mercedes Watson and Mathaniel Worthy are all charged with RICO and theft.
Worthy, the alleged mastermind, is the only suspect still on the run.
Worthy is accused of helping arrange for men resembling the victims to enter the Peachtree Parkway branch and attempt to transfer money from the victims’ accounts using fraudulent identification but real banking information.
Ramirez remains puzzled by how bank staff were deceived so quickly.
“They should have contacted my other partners as this is not a typical transaction,” he said.
Authorities believe the same group of five people committed a similar heist last year, attempting to steal $170,000 from another victim at the same bank.
In response to the incident, Ramirez has increased cybersecurity measures for his company and is committed to remaining vigilant.
“We try to check the accounts three, four or five times a day,” he stated, underscoring his determination to prevent future fraud.
The suspects collectively face 29 charges.
The indictment includes: Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO), Currency Transaction Data and Reports (Money Laundering), Theft by Deception, Conspiracy to Commit a Crime, and Identity Fraud.
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