A 17-year-old allegedly drove the confused older man to three banks to withdraw thousands of dollars before employees realized something was wrong.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Diligence by a local bank teller may have saved a senior from being defrauded out of tens of thousands of dollars.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office arrested a teenager on Wednesday, March 18, after a suspicious transaction was reported at a bank in the Oakleaf Plantation area.
Police responded to the Vystar Credit Union Wednesday after a 79-year-old man attempted to withdraw $13,000. Due to his age and the amount requested, he was asked certain questions to determine if he was being taken advantage of; that’s when employees discovered it wasn’t the first large sum he had attempted to withdraw that day.
According to the arrest report, the 17-year-old suspect had approached the man at his home in Murray Hill, offering to spray his driveway for a fee. Because the victim could not drive, the teen offered to drive him to the bank to make withdrawals. Before police got involved, the man had already withdrawn $10,000 total from two other Vystar branches.
The reporting officer said the victim appeared to be showing symptoms of dementia and was unable to remember what was going on and how much money he had agreed to pay.
Officers managed to pull over the teen suspect as he was driving away from the branch, with his 12-year-old brother in the backseat, according to the report. Police also determined he was driving on a suspended driver’s permit from South Carolina.
The $10,000 was returned to the victim, and the teen was charged with exploiting an elderly or disabled adult — a 2nd-degree felony — and various license violations.