A Houston-area church worker was arrested after a woman accused him of presenting himself as a federal agent to demand money after a work appointment. Authorities indicate that the man used A Establishing a false identity in order to intimidate the victim and obtain money under threat.
The detainee was identified as Donald Doolittle58, is security director at Gateway Community Church, located in Webster, southeast of Houston. The Public Prosecution accused him of impersonating a public employee, a violation that carries severe penalties when used to gain financial benefit or coerce another person.
According to the police report, Doolittle went to an office building in northwest Houston where the victim worked, which he hired to receive a massage. After the session, he tried to pay by credit card, but… The woman told him she only accepts cash or transfers through Zelle. Then the man left, according to the complaint An ID card with the initials ICE He introduced himself as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent.
The victim showed his temporary visa after the man asked for it. However, the judge overseeing Saturday’s hearing declared that the defendant would have gone further He would threaten her with arrest if she did not send him the money immediately. “He asked her to give him $500 for Zelle or else he would take her away and she would never see her family or children again,” the judge said during the hearing.
Frightened, the woman transferred the money to the suspect’s account. Later, according to police, he told her she would not be contacted by any other ICE agents because he had marked her case as not processed, and asked her to delete the messages exchanged. The police confirmed that this explanation was a clear attempt to do so Covering up blackmail.
The case was discovered the next day, when the woman accidentally met police officers while having lunch and decided to tell what had happened. Investigators interviewed Doolittle, who denied receiving a massage or being at the site, but authorities said surveillance recordings confirmed the victim’s account.
The situation is happening at the same time Scams committed by individuals posing as ICE employees are proliferating Or use their names to mislead the public. In early November, ICE’s cybercrime unit warned of digital schemes in which criminals induce victims to download malware that locks their computers and then demand a $400 payment to unlock them.
The Federal Trade Commission has also warned against attempts to do so Telephone and email fraudwhere scammers falsely claim that a person has violated immigration laws, provided incorrect identification information, or is awaiting payment of fees. “They will threaten to report you to the police or deport you if you do not provide them with the information they want. They will ask you not to talk to anyone else about it,” the agency says on its website.