Georgia woman’s $28,000 scam involved traveling to MS Coast, meetings at Biloxi Courthouse

A 24-year-old woman visiting Biloxi from Georgia was arrested Thursday after authorities said she pretended to be a Harrison County Sheriff’s Deputy and scammed two people out of thousands of dollars.

Sharontay Rice, of Savannah, faces two counts of false pretense, the Harrison County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

Rice posed as a deputy and called victims on the Mississippi Coast to demand they pay her to avoid arrest, police said.

On Thursday, police learned that two victims met the suspect at the Biloxi Courthouse and lost about $28,000 in the scam, according to the Harrison County Sheriff’s Office.

Authorities identified Rice as a suspect and used a warrant to search her hotel room, the news release said.

They said they found over $28,000 during that search.

Law enforcement will never collect money from citizens, the Harrison County Sheriff’s Office warned. The Sheriff asked anyone who receives a suspicious phone call to report it.

Mississippi Coast residents have faced similar scams in the past. In 2020, Biloxi Police warned residents of scam in which a caller claimed to be a police department employee and demanded the victims purchase gift cards of more than $1,000 because of outstanding bench warrants. In 2017, Jackson County residents received calls from a man posing as a Sheriff’s department employee and demanding people pay court fines over the phone.

Authorities booked Rice at the Harrison County Jail, where she remained Friday without bond pending an initial appearance in court.