A scam that went south

A local resident was robbed through a scam in July of 2019. The loss was approximately $8,000.

The resident attempted to sell an item they advertised online. The buyer, an unknown person from the Houston area, sent a cashier’s check to the local victim’s bank account. The buyer utilized an unknown female to by sending her to a branch of the bank that was out of town. The money was deposited into the victim’s account, and the victim sent the item, via overnight delivery, to a UPS Store in Houston at the suspect’s request. A few days later the cashier’s check was determined to be fraudulent, meaning the victim did not get to keep the money deposited into their account.

The victim immediately reported this to the Stephens County Sheriff’s Office. Chief Deputy Kevin Roach was assigned to the investigation.

Sheriff William Holt said, “Through diligent investigative work, he began developing additional leads. He used traditional investigation strategies and also utilized multiple Internet-based law enforcement tools that allow us to detect who owns or uses specific cellular telephone numbers and alias names.”

After two months of follow-up investigations, Chief Deputy Roach was able to obtain an arrest warrant on Nakia Darrough of Fort Bend County, Texas.

Holts said, “Darrough has no ties to Breckenridge. He stole from our local resident through a scam, taking advantage of their online advertisement and tricking them with a fraudulent cashier’s check.”

After the warrant was issued in September 2019, the SO tried to track Darrough down through other agencies, which led them to the State of Georgia and back to the Houston area. On Nov. 1, Darrough was arrested in Fort Bend County on the SCSO warrant.

“Countless times people all over the country are scammed over the telephone or Internet,” said Holt. “Victims of this often do not make reports out of embarrassment or due to feeling that they will not get justice since the scammer’s identity is not known and the suspect lives far away. Chief Deputy Roach did not let this deter him from executing a thorough investigation, which ultimately led to the arrest of Darrough. This was a superb display of investigative fortitude.”