Posted on 04/05/2012 8:55:37 AM PDT by raccoonradio
WRENTHAM, Mass. (AP) -- The pastor of a Foxborough church has been charged with attempting to scam four elderly people out of their Social Security checks by telling them they were lottery winners.
Ranulfo Luther Raposo of the Seventh-day Adventist Church pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to charges including attempted larceny and identity fraud. He was granted $5,000 bail.
Police say the alleged victims are in their 70s and 80s, live in Michigan, New Mexico and Arkansas, and are unconnected with the church.
Authorities tell The Sun Chronicle of Attleboro the 51-year-old Raposo convinced them to disclose their Social Security numbers by telling them they were lottery winners. He then allegedly tried to have their checks redirected to his own bank account. He never got the money.
Raposo's lawyer says he's the victim.
Root of all evil may refer to: --First Epistle to Timothy in the New Testament (1 Timothy 6:10) starts "For the love of money is the root of all evil" (in the King James translation)
-- Greed, one of the Seven Deadly Sins, the excessive love of money and other possessions
FOXBORO - The pastor of the Seventh-day Adventist Church was charged Wednesday with attempting to scam four elderly people out of their Social Security checks in three other states by telling them they were lottery winners. Authorities said he wanted to get access to their personal information and Social Security numbers.
Pastor Ranulfo Luther Raposo, 51, pleaded innocent in Wrentham District Court to attempted larceny, identity fraud and uttering a false document. He has no prior arrest record, and was expected to post the $5,000 cash bail set for his release.
Police Detective Thomas Kirrane said victims of the alleged scam are in their 70s and 80s, live in Michigan, New Mexico and Arkansas and are unconnected with the church.
Raposo allegedly telephoned the victims randomly and convinced them to give him their personal information and Social Security numbers by telling them they were lottery winners, Kirrane said. "They are all elderly. They are the most susceptible," Kirrane said of the alleged victims.
The case remains under investigation by Foxboro police, police in the other states and the Social Security Administration to determine the full extent of the alleged fraud, Kirrane said, adding that Raposo may be involved with others, including a person in Florida.
"It's certainly a conspiracy by two or more people," Kirrane said.
Once Raposo got the information, he allegedly called the Social Security Administration and had the victims' Social Security checks redirected by Internet direct deposit to a checking account he opened Feb. 21 at Foxboro Federal Savings Bank, police said.
Kirrane said the alleged fraud totalled about $8,000.
Raposo never received the money because bank officials became suspicious of the transactions and did not deposit the funds into his account. One of the alleged victims, an 87-year-old Michigan woman, told bank officials she never authorized the Social Security Administration to send her checks via Internet to Foxboro Federal Savings Bank, police said.
Instead of depositing the funds into Raposo's account, the bank returned the victims' checks to the Social Security Administration and contacted police.
Raposo was arrested Tuesday afternoon at the bank by Kirrane and Detective Brian Gallagher when he went to inquire why the checks were not being deposited into his account. The detectives arranged to be inside the bank when Raposo arrived and overheard him as he discussed the alleged deposits with a bank teller.
"But she said it would be all ready to pick up at 2:30 p.m. She said it was all set," Raposo was overheard saying to the teller, according to a police report.
Raposo's lawyer at the bail hearing, Andrea Wagner of Norfolk, told Judge Mary Dacey White that her client was a victim of the scam, and might have had a lapse in judgment. Wagner said Raposo never recovered $3,500 he sent to a man in Florida after he was told he won a lottery.
"He certainly wants to help the police to figure out exactly what happened here," Wagner said, adding that Raposo and his wife have receipts to prove they were victims.
"He's a person who believes in the good in people. He fell for it, too," Wagner said.
Raposo's wife, who would not give her name, defended her husband when approached by The Sun Chronicle after the court proceedings.
"He's a victim. I do have to agree with the attorney that he may have used some misjudgment," she said. The couple has three children, ages 16, 21 and 24, including one in college, Wagner said. etc.
“The couple has three children, ages 16, 21 and 24”
So....he was really just trying to get enough money to keep gas in his cars.
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