Prosecutors dropped charges against two accused of scamming an Erie woman. Here's why
When an Erie County woman fell victim to a common scam and lost $10,800 to fraudsters in May 2021, the Pennsylvania State Police relied on surveillance video and store employee assistance in identifying and charging someone in the crime.
But a failure to preserve that video evidence, and the inability to locate the now former store employee, has led the Erie County District Attorney's Office to drop criminal charges in the case.
One of the two suspects charged in the crime, 50-year-old Xing Wang of Brooklyn, New York, was scheduled to appear in Erie County Common Pleas Court on Monday morning for a nonjury trial on felony counts of dealing in the proceeds of unlawful activities, receiving stolen property, theft by deception, theft by unlawful taking and access device fraud. Wang also faced a misdemeanor count of impersonating a public servant.
But prosecutors filed a motion to drop the case and presented it to Judge John J. Mead to sign before the start of Monday's trial. Wang did not appear in court Monday and remains in New York, according to his lawyer.
Mead signed the motion, ending the case against Wang.
More: Hammering scammers: Brooklyn pair charged with bilking Erie County woman out of $10,800
Prosecution has lost evidence, witness
According to the motion, state police recently learned that nearly all of the digital evidence collected in the case was not preserved by a police department in New Jersey where the alleged criminal acts occurred. The motion also states that a key witness who observed the alleged acts in the case, which officials confirmed was an employee of Walmart in New Jersey, no longer works for the company and cannot be located to testify.
"Without this evidence or information, the Commonwealth would not be able to meet its burden at trial," the motion reads.
It was additionally stated in the motion that the district attorney's office and the state police have made repeated attempts to contact the alleged victim, as she would be a critical witness at trial. But those attempts were unsuccessful.
Wang was free on $25,000 bond that he posted two weeks after he was arraigned on the criminal charges in September 2022, according to court records. Police said Wang was apprehended in a traffic stop in New York.
The second suspect charged in the crime, 51-year-old Rongjiao Li, of Brooklyn, was never apprehended in the case. The charges against Li were still listed as inactive Monday afternoon.
What common scam hooked the woman?
Authorities said the victim in the case fell for a scam in which she received a phone call from a person claiming to be a member of the Erie County Sheriff's Office and was told that criminal charges were pending against her. The woman was told she needed to pay money to have the charges cleared, according to law enforcement.
The scam has been around for a long time and has victimized a number of people in recent years, according to the Erie County Sheriff's Office. Authorities said it can be difficult to identify the perpetrators of the crime.
State police said after Wang and Li were charged that they did not believe the suspects knew the victim, but appeared to be making calls at random.
When the woman was first contacted on May 21, 2021, by a man who said he was from the Erie County Sheriff's Office, the woman thought she was being scammed and hung up the phone, according to state police. But she reportedly took the claim seriously when the person called back and informed the woman she needed to pay $10,000 to clear the charges she was facing, investigators said.
Police said what likely made the woman believe the call was legitimate was the phone number that appeared on her caller ID was one associated with the county sheriff's office, indicating the scammers manipulated the caller ID.
The woman sent $8,800 through Bitcoin as she was instructed, then purchased $2,000 in Sam's Club gift cards and provided the caller with the gift card numbers, according to information in the criminal complaints filed against Wang and Li.
More: NY man accused of bilking Erie County woman of $10,000 in warrant scam waives criminal case
How did state police identify suspects?
Investigators obtained the Sam's Club gift card numbers and tracked their use at Walmart stores in Marlton, New Jersey, and in Berlin, New Jersey, on May 21. They also learned the suspects left those stores in a Toyota Prius investigators said was registered to Wang, according to information in the complaints.
Authorities said the Bitcoin were untraceable.
Police collected surveillance video from the Walmart stores, but initially only knew from the video that a male and female were involved, an investigator said after Wang and Li were charged. Wang and Li were ultimately identified as suspects through information generated with the assistance of Walmart loss prevention, investigators said.
Contact Tim Hahn at thahn@timesnews.com. Follow him on X @ETNhahn.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie County DA drops charges in warrant scam that cost woman $10,800
