ST. GEORGE — A phone call from a man claiming to be a police officer set off a series of events that ultimately ended in the parking lot of the LaVerkin Police Department Friday.

The woman, who wished to remain anonymous for her safety, discussed with St. George News the suspicious phone call and what transpired over the course of nearly an hour, during which the woman was told to pay $1,850 in cash or she would be arrested for failing to appear in Spanish Fork for federal grand jury selection.

The call came in shortly after 3 p.m. Friday when she said the man told her she had failed to appear for federal grand jury selection and a warrant had been issued for her arrest. 

“He told me since I failed to show up, the judge had to reschedule the trial so he issued a warrant for my arrest,” the woman told St. George News in a phone call.

She also told the caller to send her a copy of the warrant, which he did, she said, and she was able to view the document on her cell phone.

She said the caller then told her she would need to pay a bail amount of $1,850 in cash in order to avoid being arrested, she said, and also told her that the warrant was ordered out of Spanish Fork, so the money would need to be dropped off there and provided an address on Main Street.

Due to the late hour and distance involved, the woman said she told the caller that would be impossible, which is when the man told her to bring the cash to a “bond kiosk” and gave her the address. As it turned out, the address was not associated with a bail bond kiosk but was the address of a gas station on State Street in Hurricane. 

Then the call took a turn, she said, and the caller’s story and his instructions began to change.

She said she decided to drive to the LaVerkin Police Department while the man still was on the phone so she could confirm the validity of the call.

“I told him I wasn’t going to some random location with that much cash,” she said. “So I decided to go to the police department instead.”

When she advised the suspect of her intentions, he told her she would be arrested as soon as she “stepped foot on the property,” she said, but undaunted, she pulled into the police department parking lot just as an officer was getting out of his patrol vehicle. 

She put the caller on speaker phone while she spoke to LaVerkin Police Officer Chris Smith, as she went over the details of the phone call with the officer listening. The caller then asked the officer for his badge number.

From there, the caller identified himself as “Steven Johnson,” said he worked for the Spanish Fork Police Department and told the officer in LaVerkin to detain the woman on the active warrant, which the officer refused to do.

That was when the caller hung up.

When the woman called the Spanish Fork Police Department to verify that Steven Johnson worked there, she learned there was no officer by that name employed there, and the police department had received several calls from the public reporting similar suspicious activity.

St. George News contacted Lt. Cory Slaymaker, public information officer for the Spanish Fork Police Department, who said the department has received calls reporting a similar scam. He added that warrant scams have been around for several years, and they tend to resurface periodically.

They reappear with a “few different twists” to disarm the public, he said, such as what was seen with the scam on Friday. These scammers “will do whatever they have to do to get your money,” even if it takes talking to a police officer, such as what took place in LaVerkin, Slaymaker said.

He also said what makes these scams effective is the fear involved, since the targets are told there is a warrant out for their arrest, and the only way they can avoid being arrested is to send the caller money.

“So the victim feels an intense level of fear in the moment,” Slaymaker said. “And it’s only after the fact that they realize they’ve been duped.”

Slaymaker said law enforcement will never call and demand payment over the phone for a warrant.

He went on to say that if a call appears to be suspicious, there is generally a good reason for that, and if ever in doubt, then residents can call and confirm the information with the local police department or sheriff’s office.

The U.S. District Court has posted information warning of similar scams since 2013 when a press release outlined a similar fraudulent scenario wherein scammers call unsuspecting residents claiming to be an officer or attorney of the U.S. government and then demand payment or verification of personal information in order for the subject of the scam to avoid arrest.

Scammers have also been sending official-looking jury forms via email to citizens that ask for personal information, which are phishing emails that can often contain viruses or malware.

In the current scam, the complainant was sent a copy of a warrant that appeared to be legitimate, the woman said, and the fact that the caller was so “brazen” that he would ask the LaVerkin officer for his badge number and then direct the officer to detain her, which she said was pretty shocking.

“I mean, who does that?” she said.

St. George News also reached out to LaVerkin Police Chief Nick Nuccitelli, who said he was briefed about the situation and that another element that raised the officer’s suspicions was the caller’s claim that the warrant was issued out of Spanish Fork for failing to appear for a grand jury selection.

“There is no federal court in Spanish Fork,” Nuccitelli said.

That is true, and in fact, the warrant was issued out of “U.S. District Court the 2nd District of Utah,” which does not exist as a federal court, but the “2nd District” in the heading represents the 2nd District Court, which is a state court, not a federal court, in Ogden.

A federal grand jury in Utah is comprised of up to 15 jurors who serve a two-month term, and failing to report could result in a show cause order being issued by the U.S. Marshals Service to appear in court — as opposed to a warrant for their arrest.

Nuccitelli said the one common theme running throughout these types of scams is the fear and sense of urgency that fraudsters use to disarm the target, and the threat of being arrested can cause a significant level of fear. Instead of falling victim to the scammer’s demands, he said, the woman in this case went as far as to show up at the police department to verify the information, and when those efforts failed, the suspect gave up.

“The first thing is don’t be afraid,” he said. “Instead, take a step back and verify the information by calling the local police department to verify the information before taking any further action.”

He also said if anyone has any questions or concerns regarding a suspicious phone call or email they can go to the Internet Crime Complaint Center, (IC-3), which is not only a reporting site but is also a national central hub run by the FBI that provides information on the latest and most harmful cyber threats – information that can help the public to better protect themselves and their families.

Anyone who has questions regarding calls involving a grand jury warrant, or from anyone purporting to be from the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah can call the U.S. District Court at 801-524-6285,  and information regarding jury duty can be found on the U.S. Courts website.

This report is based on statements from court records, police or other responders and may not contain the full scope of findings. Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.

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