Reports of what police call a “grand jury phone scam” aren’t new to the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office.
But a recent investigation found prison inmates behind the calls, Shannon Volkodav, a spokeswoman for the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office, said in a statement.
On Thursday, Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office investigators obtained a warrant for 26-year-old Nicolas Brady Kennedy, an Autry State Prison inmate, for conspiracy to commit theft by deception.
Investigators also arrested Marissa Eastwood, 22, of Lilburn, charging her with theft by deception, and Chelsea Allyse Guevara, 24, of Lawrenceville, charging her with conspiracy to commit theft by deception.
Police started digging into scam phone calls Feb. 26, after a Gwinnett County woman reported a “Deputy Schaffer, with the sheriff’s office” threatened her with arrest for failing to appear to a grand jury summons.
The woman was conned out of $3,800 in rechargeable money cards, Western Union and MoneyGram wire transfers, Volkodav said.
Sheriff Butch Conway said no government agency will ask for payment of fines over the phone, especially using money cards or wire transfers.
“We began investigating numerous phone scam reports in 2014, prompting Conway to form a multi-jurisdictional task force to combat the problem,” Volkodav said.
When members of the task force realized the scammers were Georgia state prison inmates using contraband cell phones, the Federal Bureau of Investigation got involved, Volkodav said. “Operation Ghost Guard” recently concluded with the arrests of more than 130 suspects.
The Department of Corrections Criminal Investigation Unit acted immediately upon the agency’s request, transferring Kennedy to a maximum security facility and locating dozens of contraband cell phones in their facility, which will help the prosecution in this case, Investigative Services Division Commander Lt. Colonel Carl Sims said.
“I don’t like seeing innocent people being victimized by anyone, but even less so by state prison inmates,” Conway said. “They rob their victims of much more than money, they rob them of their sense of well-being.”
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