Tallahassee police arrest Illinois man in $2.35 million fraud scheme targeting city funds
UPDATED:
$1.4 million taxpayer dollars have returned to the City of Tallahassee. I’m Maya Sargent in Downtown Tallahassee. The Tallahassee Police Department made that announcement Friday stating the suspect, Richard Golding, is from Illinois and faces several charges.
Golding faces charges including two counts of wire fraud, money laundering, grand theft, and attempted grand theft, that’s in connection with the City of Tallahassee’s fraud case that led to over $2 million being stolen. TPD has been able to recover $1.4 million along with the support of the State Attorney’s Office, United States Secret Service, and the U.S. Marshals Service.
“This money went to somewhere in Mexico so you’re dealing with that component as well it just takes time, and a lot of these federal subpoenas and things like that they take time to go through those court systems to get judges’ approval for it and then to gather all of that information,” said Chief Lawrence Revell of TPD.
Revell said the suspected scammer posed as a vendor the the City of Tallahassee used regularly.
“This person exploited that through that company through that vendor, that’s how they got into the city and into the city systems to create the fraud,” said Revell.
Revell added an almost two year investigation period for a case like this is usual because of the amount of work that’s required including requesting subpoenas and waiting for responses from banks.
State Attorney Jack Campbell calls the incident a “sophisticated crime”.
“It was international in nature, and it was run in such a way that we had to do records with not the institutions where we’re used to dealing with it,” said Campbell.
Campbell said he’s seeing scams impact people in Tallahassee too.
“Right now one of the big ones we’re having in Tallahassee is people getting calls saying that they missed jury duty and they need to pay a bunch of money or they’ve got to go to jail,” said Campbell.
He says Golding’s charges are a first-degree felony under Florida Law and punishable by up to 30 years in prison.
Campbell says Golding will be prosecuted in Leon County. In Downtown Tallahassee, Maya Sargent, ABC 27.
ORIGINAL:
Tallahassee police have arrested an Illinois man in connection with a complex fraud scheme that stole $2.35 million, including funds from the City of Tallahassee.
The report states that Richard N. Golding of Buffalo Grove, Illinois, faces charges of two counts of wire fraud, money laundering, grand theft, and attempted grand theft. The investigation revealed that Golding participated in receiving stolen funds and helped transfer money internationally to a Mexican bank for an unidentified criminal network.
The Tallahassee Police Department says the fraud investigation began in 2024 and uncovered what they describe as a network of coordinated deceit that crossed state and international boundaries. The City of Tallahassee was among the multiple victims targeted in the scheme.
TPD says the investigation required coordination with agencies across multiple states as detectives reviewed financial records and traced the movement of funds. The complexity of the scheme created numerous investigative leads that crossed state and international jurisdictions.
The release says multiple agencies contributed to the investigation, including the Tallahassee Police Department, State Attorney Jack Campbell’s Office, United States Secret Service, and the U.S. Marshals Service.
The report says the investigation resulted in both an arrest and the recovery of $1.4 million for Tallahassee citizens.
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