EVERETT, Mass. — Police in two cities, including Everett, are credited with stepping in to stop a scam that almost cost an elderly couple thousands of dollars.
Everett police say they got a call Tuesday by police in Steven Point, Wisconsin that an elderly couple there had sent money to an address in Everett after being told their grandson had been kidnapped and was being held for ransom.
Everett Police then checked out an address at 228 Main Street, where a package with the money had been sent. When they got there, investigators say they saw a man on the porch who told them he was looking for a friend who lived at the address. That man, identified as 30-year-old Raymond Medrano of Dorchester was taken into custody after officers were notified Medrano had a warrant out for his arrest out of Roxbury District Court.
Police then spoke with a resident of the first floor of the Main Street address who let them into the building, past a locked outer door. Officers say they found a package addressed to “Austin Beyer,” who was the person that was allegedly “kidnapped.”
When officers asked the resident if they knew Beyers, they were told no one by that name lived at the address.
Officers then took the package back to the police station and found $7,000, all packed in smaller envelopes inside various magazines, along with dryer sheets.
Police in Wisconsin were then notified. Everett Police were later told that the elderly couple received another call from the “kidnappers” saying they had not received their money.
The victims told the alleged kidnappers to go to the Everett Police station to claim it.
By the way, Everett Police say the grandson is alive and well at a college near the east coast.
And in case you were wondering - police say the dryer sheets in the package are meant to hide the smell of money from dogs trained to find it.
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