Source: oleantimesherald.com 4/3/25
BRADFORD, Pa. — A Georgia man is in McKean County Jail, charged for allegedly impersonating a cop to scam a registered sex offender out of $1,000.
Rashawn Scott, 33, of Claxton, Ga., is charged with identity theft, a third-degree felony; theft by deception, theft by unlawful taking, theft by extortion and receiving stolen property, all first-degree misdemeanors; impersonating a public servant, a second-degree misdemeanor; and furnishing false information, a third-degree misdemeanor.
According to the criminal complaint, on Aug. 23, 2022, a Bradford man registered on the state police Megan’s Law website as a sex offender went to the Lewis Run state police barracks and attempted to give two gift cards to the police communications officer. He said he was told to bring the cards to the barracks.
The scam victim explained to state police that he was called by a Punxsutawney phone number that morning by someone who identified himself as “Sgt. Harding.” The person on the phone provided a badge number and said he had a warrant for the victim’s arrest. The caller, who state police allege was Scott, told the scam victim there were new laws pertaining to Megan’s Law offenders that they must provide DNA samples and other testing or a warrant would be issued for their arrest, according to the complaint.
Scott allegedly said if the scam victim gave him $1,000, he would “make the warrant go away.” When the scam victim said he didn’t have that kind of money, Scott pretended to be talking to superiors; the scam victim then said he could ask his uncle for money. Scott allegedly stayed on the phone with the scam victim while he drove to his uncle’s house to borrow money, the court records state.
Scott told the scam victim if he lost the call and didn’t call back, he would send people to arrest him. Still on the call, the scam victim went to CVS and purchased …
Give the scammer the clips of castration for he’ll go on to commit more fraud at the hands of the registry.
Nice to see police willing to charge someone for a crime against us. I’ve had no luck getting help from local Sheriff’s. Not worth my time to call them anymore.
I just had some guy here in AZ call me the other day saying he was “Sgt. Smith badge #9632 from Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office” and that due to my DNA being “lost or corrupted” and not answering a letter sent to me by DPS, a warrant had been issued for my arrest.
I started to panic and wondered how this could be. He told me I could pay the bond and give a DNA sample. He said to stay on the phone and go ALONE while I got the $$ for the bond and when I had it, he would connect me to the “finance officer” to pay the bond.
The “finance officer” came on when I was driving and sent me via text a Bitcoin QR code!
When I got that code, I immediately realized it was a scam and went to the MCSO office near my home. I kept them on the phone and told them I was at the bank.
I muted my phone and told the deputy that I had these guys trying to get $$ from me to cancel a warrant and the deputy told me I was the 6th person that they were scamming and that 3 of the others actually paid the $$.
I unmuted my phone and cussed them out. I gave the phone # to the deputy and filed a complaint.
I hope they get caught.
Will this new perpetrator be forced to register? I mean it’s technically a sex offense.
I have three voice messages saved on my phone with a return number left by people impersonating law enforcement telling me there’s an issue with my registration and I need to call them immediately. I tried to share them with the local police and they weren’t the least bit interested in people impersonating the police unless I actually gave them money.
I once got a call exactly like the one in the article., with the scammed telling me I had to stay on the line while I go buy gift cards. I told him he called me on a land-line so I couldn’t do that. I then gave him the (non emergency) phone number to our local police department, told him it was my cell phone number and that I would stay on the land-line with him until he could connect to my cell phone. After about 15 seconds I asked “are you calling me?” The guy said yes I’m calling you right now. And very suddenly, he hung up and didn’t call back, lol.