OKLAHOMA CITY – A man accused of participating in a scheme to defraud at least two dozen elderly victims in multiple states – including a disabled veteran – has admitted his guilt, and his alleged accomplice awaits trial in federal court here.
Jorge Mario Jaramillo-Orozco, 28, and Alexander de Jesus Hernandez, 35, were both arrested in Stillwater and were indicted on charges of fraud by wire, radio and television, plus attempt and conspiracy.
Hernandez pleaded guilty and awaits sentencing in Oklahoma’s Western District federal court. He was released from custody pending sentencing. He is on radio-frequency monitoring, confined to a residence in south Florida between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. daily, is required to seek employment, and is restricted to travel solely in and around Miami, Florida, and Oklahoma City.
Jaramillo-Orozco is scheduled for trial on the OKC federal court’s January 2023 docket.
An affidavit filed by an FBI special agent claims that “probable cause exists to show” that Jaramillo-Orozco and Hernandez “knowingly participated in a scheme to obtain money by means of fraudulent pretenses and transmitted by means of wire communication in interstate commerce…”
The indictment alleges that Hernandez flew from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Kansas City, Missouri, to act as an on-call courier “on behalf of the fraud scheme.” He “picked up several bundles of cash from victims … in Kansas and Missouri,” the indictment alleges.
In early April, Jaramillo-Orozco drove from Orlando, Florida, to the Oklahoma City area “to act as an on-call courier on behalf of the fraud scheme,” the indictment charges.
A conspirator would contact victims via telephone and claim that a close friend or relative was in trouble and had been arrested. Pretending to be an attorney representing the friend or relative, a conspirator asked the victims to wire or mail money to bail their friend or relative out of jail. When victims were reluctant to wire or mail the funds, conspirators claimed that a courier would stop by to pick up the money.
One Stillwater victim, a woman identified in the affidavit as V.G., withdrew $9,500 from her bank and subsequently was contacted by a person “she believed to be her grandson’s attorney,” who identified himself as Charles Langdon. “Langdon” told V.G. that he had arranged for a courier to pick up the cash from her residence. Later that day a Hispanic male driving a rented U-Haul truck arrived at her residence and collected the money personally.
The investigation determined that the courier was Hernandez, the FBI agent wrote.
The next day V.G. received another phone call from “Langdon,” who claimed that her grandson was arrested again, a new bond had been set, and V.G. needed to provide “Langdon” with $18,000. However, when she went to get the funds the bank refused to allow the withdrawal “due to suspicions that V.G. was being victimized.” The bank called the Stillwater Police Department and reported the incident.
Also on April 5, another Stillwater victim, identified as K.B., was contacted by “Langdon,” who claimed he was an attorney representing a friend of K.B.’s who had been arrested in Florida. “Langdon,” told K.B. he would need $12,000 to bond his friend out of jail, and said he would have a courier come to his house to collect the money.
K.B. informed his daughter, who contacted the Stillwater police department. because she thought her father was about to be defrauded.
Stillwater police were at K.B.’s home when a Hispanic male later identified as Jaramillo-Orozco was dropped off. Jaramillo-Orozco told the officers he was at the residence “to pick up something and was doing so as a favor for a friend.” Jaramillo-Orozco refused to identify his friend nor name the driver who dropped him off at K.B.’s residence.
Subsequently, Jaramillo-Orozco was arrested.
On April 6 an elderly would-be Stillwater victim, R.L., received a telephone call “from a person who purported to be, and sounded like,” his grandson. The caller claimed he was in Florida attending a funeral for a friend when his car was stopped by local law enforcement officers who found a gun and cocaine in the vehicle and arrested him.
The caller handed the telephone to someone who identified himself as attorney “Charles Langdon.” The so-called attorney said that a $15,000 bond had been set for R.L.’s grandson, who could be released that afternoon if R.L. provided “Langdon” with the funds.
R.L. agreed to provide the money to a courier who would be sent by “Langdon”.
Instead, R.L. contacted the Stillwater Police Department and informed them about the conversation. When a Hispanic male arrived at R.L.’s residence in a rented U-Haul truck, he was confronted by police.
The man identified himself as Hernandez, “confirmed that he was at R.L.’s residence to collect an envelope and that he was hired to do so by an individual whom he knew as ‘George.’”
Hernandez was arrested. During a subsequent interview he admitted that he was the courier who collected the money from V.G. on April 4 “and that he was paid to do so by ‘George,’” the FBI agent wrote in his affidavit.
After Hernandez was arrested, a search warrant was executed on two telephones found in his possession.
During a conversation between Hernandez and someone identified as “G,” Hernandez was instructed to fly from Florida to Kansas City, Missouri, to rent a U-Haul truck at a specific location and to “go collect money from victims.”
Addresses of 24 victims in Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma were provided to Hernandez by “G,” along with aliases to use “when engaging the victims.” At least nine of the victims live in Oklahoma.
One of those victims was a disabled Vietnam War veteran confined to a nursing home in Overland Park, Kansas, who was cheated out of $14,000 on March 30, the indictment alleges.
The investigation showed that Hernandez wire-transferred approximately $1,700 from a Walmart store in Overland Park to a co-conspirator in Miami, Florida, on March 3; approximately $1,500 from a Walmart store in Oklahoma City on April 4, plus approximately $2,100 from the same store on April 5, to his girlfriend and sister-in-law. Neither woman was identified in the affidavit.