Ventura County – Who hasn’t bought a lottery ticket or two, just on the slim chance that they hit it big? And when we have that ticket with those magic numbers on it in our hands, don’t we always let ourselves simply imagine the feeling of winning big? It’s just that indulgence in our fantasies that makes some of us vulnerable to the wiles of smooth-talking con artists who have an undeniable knack for credibly presenting themselves as the answer to our dreams.
That is exactly what appears to have happened on August 14th, when a local Thousand Oaks bank reported to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department the withdrawal of a large sum of cash by a female bank customer. According to VCSD spokesman Sgt. Alan Hartkop, Thousand Oaks Police detectives promptly began looking into the matter and discovered that the same woman had made “multiple cash withdrawals” from other area banks in the preceding days.
Investigation revealed that the woman had been “contacted by a person identifying himself as a representative for a cash sweepstakes,” with a prize of $800,000 due to the lucky woman. The only catch: she first had to pay “the appropriate amount of taxes” on the windfall…in cash, please. No doubt considering the enormity of the prize itself, the tax bite may have felt like a small price to pay for all that money, and the woman did just as the “representative” instructed, and raided her bank accounts to come up with the “tax” due on her putative winnings.
Detectives quickly investigated and identified three individuals behind the scheme: Beverly Faye Hudson, 57, of San Jose; Tony Raymon Cobb, 52, of Salinas; Chanelle Patrice Walker, 19, of Salinas. All three suspects were contacted by deputies, arrested and transported to Ventura County Jail, where they were booked on charges of felony grand theft and conspiracy.
Photos: Courtesy Ventura County Jail Booking
