ST. LUCIE COUNTY, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 A scam involving people pretending to be St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office personnel has come to an end with the arrest of a Georgia woman.<\/p>\n
The St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office (SLCSO) reported that Alisha Chejuan Ester, 47, from Douglasville, Georgia, was part of a sophisticated scheme that targeted citizens both in St. Lucie County and across the United States, affecting victims in states like Arizona and Tennessee.<\/p>\n
According to SLCSO, Ester, along with several accomplices located within the Georgia Department of Corrections, posed as SLCSO personnel. <\/p>\n
They allegedly contacted victims, falsely informing them of missed court dates or outstanding warrants, and demanded payment to avoid prosecution. <\/p>\n
Officials said that this scam manipulated vulnerable individuals by exploiting their fear of law enforcement, leading them to pay out fraudulent amounts through various electronic methods.<\/p>\n
See also: Police bodycam footage captures dramatic rescue of missing woman<\/a><\/p>\n The investigation culminated in Ester\u2019s arrest in Jacksonville, in a collaboration between the SLCSO and the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. <\/p>\n She has been booked into the Duval County Jail on criminal counts, including Unlawful Use of a Two-Way Communication Device and Third-Degree Grand Theft.<\/p>\n SLCSO said that they want to remind the public that law enforcement will never call you to inform you of a warrant or demand payment over the phone. <\/p>\n If you receive a suspicious call claiming to be from the police, it is advised to hang up and contact your local law enforcement agency directly.<\/p>\n Comment with Bubbles<\/p>\n BE THE FIRST TO COMMENT<\/p>\n Find more ways to stay up to date with your latest local news. Sign up for our newsletter<\/a> to get the day’s top headlines delivered right to your inbox. Subscribe to our YouTube channel<\/a> for the biggest stories and can’t miss video.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. LUCIE COUNTY, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 A scam involving people pretending to be St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26725,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172],"class_list":{"0":"post-30908","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-port-st-lucie","8":"tag-port-st-lucie","9":"tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","10":"tag-port-st-lucie-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30908","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=30908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30908\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}