On 09/05/2018 at 4:37pm, a resident on Sterling Street reported that earlier that morning she received a suspicious package in the mail containing over $4,000 in cash. Officers responded to investigate and determined that earlier in the day, the package was handed off to a male who was wearing a FedEx shirt who said the package was improperly delivered. The resident gave the package to the male but thought it was suspicious and called the police to report it.
On 09/06/2018 at 7:35am the same resident called 911 to report that there was a package delivered to her door again and she can see a male walking away from his vehicle approaching her house. Officers immediately responded and located the vehicle a short distance away. Carlos Morel-Abreu, DOB: 05/19/87, of Patterson NJ, and Jose Mercedes-Sanchez, DOB: 08/21/89, of Patterson NJ, were subsequently arrested and charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance after officers located MDMA (Ecstasy) pills inside the vehicle.
The second package that was delivered was secured by officers and contained an additional $8,000 in cash. Further investigation into the packages revealed that an elderly female in Columbus, Ohio was scammed. A few days earlier, the elderly victim received a call in which the caller gave her a story that her son was arrested in Connecticut and they needed money to get him out of jail. The elderly victim, convinced of this story, packaged up the cash and followed the instructions given by the caller. He later called again and convinced her to send an additional amount to the same address. This package was recovered by officers.
The Fairfield Police Detective Bureau is currently investigating the involvement of the two arrested individuals and thier relationship to the packages. Detectives are also currently making arrangements to return the recovered $8,000 to the elderly victim in Columbus, Ohio. Anyone with information regarding this elderly scam is asked to call the Fairfield Police Department Detective Bureau at (203)254-4840, or Text-A-Tip to CRIMES (274637).
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