A woman was arrested in Spalding County Thursday after signing for a package that had been intercepted by sheriff’s deputies as part of a fraud investigation, officials said.
Ruth Garcia, 42, was booked into the Spalding County Jail on charges of theft by deception and criminal conspiracy, jail records show. The package she signed for and accepted was supposed to contain $16,000 in cash, according to a statement from the Spalding sheriff’s office.
The sting operation was arranged between the Spalding County Sheriff’s Office after they were contacted about a scheme to defraud a woman living in Florida. The woman sent a total of $24,000 to an address in Griffin in the belief that she was helping bail her grandson out of jail.
The woman first sent money after a man called her and impersonated her grandson, identifying himself by name, Spalding Sheriff Darrell Dix said. He told the woman he was in jail after a car accident and had been charged with a DUI. He requested that she send him $8,000 in cash for his bond, Dix said. A second man then called the woman posing as a bail bondsman and gave her instructions on how to send the money. He instructed her to send the cash to an address on Ray Street in Griffin, Dix said.
After the first $8,000 was delivered, the man posing as the woman’s grandson called again and told her that someone had died in the fictional car crash and he would need an additional $16,000 for bail, Dix said. The woman once again sent the cash via UPS to the same address.
In the course of the second shipment, the Spalding sheriff’s office became involved, Dix said. The agency was able to work with UPS to intercept the package and set up the sting operation. A Special Operations Investigator with the sheriff’s office posed as a UPS driver to make the delivery at the Ray Street address.
According to Dix, the investigator was walking to the door of the Ray Street house when Garcia pulled up in a van. She approached the investigator, verified the information about the package and signed for it, Dix said. Once she had taken the fake package and begun to walk away, she was arrested by the surveillance team watching the exchange.
Though the original $8,000 was not recovered, Spalding deputies were able to secure the second shipment with $16,000. The sheriff’s office is continuing to investigate this case, Dix said.
Garcia remains in the Spalding jail, where she is being held without bond.
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