{"id":240025,"date":"2026-04-21T06:41:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T06:41:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/240025\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T06:41:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T06:41:19","slug":"georgia-inmate-charged-in-phone-fraud-scheme-targeting-florida-residents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/240025\/","title":{"rendered":"Georgia inmate charged in phone fraud scheme targeting Florida residents"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text | article-text\">DOOLY COUNTY, Ga. (WALB) &#8211; A Georgia inmate is facing charges in Florida, in connection to a phone-based fraud scheme targeting Florida residents.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The Flagler County Sheriff\u2019s Office obtained an arrest warrant for Abraham Rivas, 32, who is incarcerated at Dooly State Prison in Georgia. Rivas is accused of targeting a Flagler County resident by impersonating a Flagler County Sheriff\u2019s Office deputy.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"figure-img img-fluid mx-auto d-block\" alt=\"Man incarcerated in Georgia accused of impersonating Florida deputy\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/KYYJITMXHFBFTFAJPKY3YELRME.jpg\" width=\"980\" height=\"1130\" \/>Man incarcerated in Georgia accused of impersonating Florida deputy(FLAGLER COUNTY SHERIFF\u2019S OFFICE)<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">According to the sheriff\u2019s office, on March 12, deputies with FCSO\u2019s Community Policing Division responded to a fraud report in Palm Coast. Officers said a victim reported sending two $500 payments to a person claiming to be \u201cOfficer Christopher Osorio with the Flagler County Sheriff\u2019s Office.\u201d The victim believed the money was required for bond and an ankle monitor following the victim\u2019s spouse\u2019s recent arrest, according to the sheriff\u2019s office.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">According to the sheriff\u2019s office, the account holder told investigators Rivas said the incoming payments were legal sports-betting winnings, and the account holder believed the people sending the money were Rivas\u2019 family members. The money was then sent to Rivas\u2019 commissary account at Dooly State Prison, according to the sheriff\u2019s office.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">While detective First Class Douglas interviewed Rivas at Dooly State Prison, Rivas described how the fraud operation functioned from inside the Georgia prison system.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">During the interview, Rivas said other inmates ran similar scams and claimed that correctional staff were aware of the activity, according to the sheriff\u2019s office.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Rivas also claimed he used proceeds from the fraud to purchase marijuana inside the prison. Detective Douglas obtained an arrest warrant charging Rivas with organized scheme to defraud and grand theft.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-2\">\u201cThis suspect used deception and impersonated FCSO to exploit our victim and they did this from a Georgia prison. It appears criminal activity is occurring right under their nose, and that is completely inexcusable. If you steal from our residents, whether you are in Flagler County or in a prison cell in another state, we will investigate the case, obtain a warrant, and hold you accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Rivas is currently serving four years in the Georgia Department of Corrections for charges including aggravated assault, theft by taking, robbery by sudden snatching.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">He was scheduled for release in 2027.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Following this investigation, the sheriff\u2019s office said they will never call, text or email demanding money or personal information to clear-up a warrant, avoid arrest, or resolve a legal issue.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The sheriff\u2019s office advise all residents to avoid sending money to anyone you do not know.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text text-start\">Have a news tip or see an error that needs correction? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.walb.com\/2026\/04\/20\/georgia-inmate-charged-phone-fraud-scheme-targeting-florida-residents\/mailto:walb-digitalproducers@gray.tv\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\">Let us know.<\/a> Please include the article\u2019s headline in your message.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text text-start\">To stay up to date on all the latest news as it develops, follow WALB on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/WALBNews10\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\">Facebook<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WALBNews10\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\">X (Twitter)<\/a>. For more South Georgia news, download the WALB News app from the <a href=\"https:\/\/apps.apple.com\/us\/app\/walb-news-10\/id449395459\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\">Apple Store<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/search?q=walb+news+10+app&amp;c=apps&amp;hl=en_US&amp;gl=US\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\">Google Play<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 WALB. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DOOLY COUNTY, Ga. (WALB) &#8211; A Georgia inmate is facing charges in Florida, in connection to a phone-based&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":240026,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[93672,106231,28620,28,106232,30,29,106233,266,115,106234,106235,53334,53335],"class_list":["post-240025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-county-news","tag-dooly-county-news","tag-flagler-county-sheriffs-office","tag-florida","tag-florida-fraud-scheme","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-georgia-fraud-scheme","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-phone-scam-impersonation","tag-prison-fraud-operation","tag-walb-news","tag-walb-news-10"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240025\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}