2 SRU students suspects in online puppy fraud
SLIPPERY ROCK TWP— Three African nationals — two of them Slippery Rock University students — are suspected in a nationwide online fraud scheme that preyed on people looking to buy boxer puppies.
The swindle, authorities said, involved a popular Internet ad site, money transfers and laundered currency that eventually made its way to Africa.
During the investigation, state police also uncovered fake identification, including evidence of phony passports, that the defendants were using.
“It was a pretty intricate thing,” Trooper Joseph Vascetti, the lead investigators, said Tuesday. “It was well thought out and well planned.”
In all, he estimated, the racket netted the trio tens of thousands of dollars. Police say they have not identified all the victims, which probably number in the dozens.
“They're from all over the country.” Vascetti said of the duped. “One victim was from Massachusetts and another from Kentucky. We also know of victims in New Jersey and Tennessee.”
Police suspect the victims sent an average $700 to the defendants, believing they were going to get a boxer puppy, as advertised on Craigslist or through another website. But once the scammers got their hands on the money, the buyers got nothing.
Charged are Lawrence N. Francis, 27; Emmenuel Nkwate, 31; and Lawrence N. Tchakounte, 26. They all list the same Slippery Rock Township address — The Heights apartment complex — in court documents.
The defendants, all natives of Cameroon, are charged with operating a corrupt organization, conspiracy, theft, receiving stolen property, criminal use of a communization, all felonies.
Additionally, Francis and Tchakounte, both students at SRU, are charged with forgery, also a felony.
Authorities said Francis and Tchakounte are both in the United States on student visas. Nkwate is here on a refugee visa.
Police on Monday night arrested Francis at his off-campus apartment. He offered no resistance but also offered no statement to police, Vascetti said.
District Judge Wayne Seibel arraigned him on charges, and remanded him to the Butler County Prison on $100,000 bail.
Seibel on Monday also issued an arrest warrant for Nkwate, whose whereabouts is not known, Vascetti acknowledged.
Tchakounte is also in the county prison on $100,000 bail. He was booked Tuesday after spending the last nearly six weeks in the Lawrence County Jail
He landed in the Lawrence County lockup March 22 following his arrest by Shenango Township police in connection with a similar online scam.
That arrest eventually led to search warrants, obtained by police, and the identification of his alleged accomplices.
His arraignment is pending on the charges in Butler County.
A search of Francis' car, which Tchakounte was driving when he was arrested, turned up receipts linked to the suspected scam, a fake Delaware driver's license and a fraudulent vehicle registration plate.
Police also searched the defendants' apartment and found more receipts and other evidence of their involvement in the online puppy racket, documents said,
Vascetti said Tchakounte is cooperating in the ongoing investigation.
He told investigators that he came to the U.S. in January of this year and that he did not know his co-defendants before arriving. By the time he landed here, Francis and Nkwate were both involved in the online scheme.Just weeks after coming to America, according to court documents, he met the others and, at their encouragement, joined them in the scam.His role, he recounted, was to collect money that victims sent via Western Union or MoneyGram, to stores in Butler, Mercer and Lawrence counties.By himself, Tchakounte said, he picked up payments from 20 victims, documents said, totaling about $15,000. He said his cut was 20 percent for each transaction he picked up.He admitted, however, there were other victims, whose payments they thought was for boxer puppies, had been collected by Francis and Nkwate. The average payment, he said, was $700 per victim.Tchakounte also disclosed that Nkwate had a forged U.S. passport and two fake driver's licenses.He indicated that he was involved “in laundering some of the stolen money” in the scam, according to a police affidavit.The money-laundering scenario, Vascetti said, would involve the defendants picking up the wire transfers in cash and purchasing money orders, which they would subsequently send to Africa.On different occasions, Tchakounte admitted, he sent a combined $6,000 to an unknown man in Cameroon. Police suspect Francis and Nkwate did likewise.Following the search of the defendants' apartment in March, documents said, Francis and Nkwate denied any involvement in the scam.Investigators said they subsequently got more search warrants to scour Tchakounte's smart phone and bank accounts belonging to Francis and Tchakounte, which turned up additional incriminating evidence.Francis' balance was $8,000, and it had been as high as $12,000.“This is an extremely high balance for an individual who is a student,” the police affidavit said, “and unemployed.”Vascetti said police continue to search for laptop computers seized from the defendants' apartment.
