4 New Jersey Men Arrested In $15,500 Long Island Bail Scam: PD

RUSSELL GARDENS, NY — Four New Jersey men were cuffed Monday for trying to scam $15,500 out of a 75-year-old man by impersonating his son and claiming he had been arrested after a car crash in Pennsylvania, Nassau County police said.

Major Case Squad detectives said that about 12:30 p.m. on Monday an unknown “male” impersonated the man’s son, claiming to have been arrested after being involved in a car crash that injured someone in Reddington, Pa. He then gave the man an arrest number and advised him a representative from the public defender’s office would call with instructions on bail money, and a short time later, the man received a call from a woman demanding $15,500 dollars for the release of his son, police said.

The man was advised to call when he had the money so a courier would then pick it up, but after withdrawing the money from the bank, the man called his son to check on him, and he was informed that he was in Manhattan and not under arrest in Pennsylvania, police said.

Police were contacted and at the time of the arranged transaction, a gray Honda with four people was parked down the block from the man’s house, and Alvin Rufino, 22, of Passaic, got out of the car with a receipt, and went to the door and received an envelope from the man, police said.

Rufino resisted arrest and had to be subdued, according to police.

Rufino, as well as Darwin Marcano Jimenez, 28; Jose Soriano, 30; and Engel Paulino Gomez, 20; was charged with third-degree grand larceny, a felony. Rufino was also charged with resisting arrest, a misdemeanor, and Gomez, criminal possession of a forged instrument, a felony. They are scheduled for arraignment on Tuesday in Mineola.

If convicted on the top charge of grand larceny, the quartet faces up to seven years in state prison.