COLONIE, N.Y. (NEWS10) – On Wednesday, around 10 a.m., the Colonie Police Department responded to an apartment on Beryl Way, for a report of a possible scam in progress. The elderly resident had gotten a phone call from a man, who said that the resident’s granddaughter was in trouble, and needed bail money to be released from jail.
The suspect on the phone was pretending to be an attorney for the granddaughter, and at one point, even put a girl on the phone who pretended to be the granddaughter. The suspects on the phone asked for bail money and told the resident they would be sending a courier to their house to pick it up.
The alert victim, in this case, was not falling for it and immediately called the police. Police say their granddaughter was not in any trouble, and the call was an attempt to steal money from the victim.
Several members of the Colonie police department were waiting when the suspect arrived to collect his money. The suspect, identified as William T. Comfort, 27, of Maywood, California, was arrested at the scene.
Charges:
- Third-degree attempted grand larceny (Felony)
- Fugitive from justice (Warrant from Wisconsin)
It appears that the defendant is responsible for at least one other successful scam in the Capital Region, in which he received a large amount of money from a different victim. Charges may be in store for that crime as well. It is possible that there were even more victims, who have not been identified yet.
The defendant also had an active arrest warrant out of Wisconsin for a similar crime, which took place in May. In that incident, Comfort allegedly stole another large sum of money.
Comfort was arraigned in the Town of Colonie Justice Court. He is now being held at the Albany County Correctional Facility.
This is still an active and ongoing investigation. If you know something that might be relevant to the investigation, or if you know someone else who may have been victimized, you are asked to contact the Colonie Police Investigations Division at (518) 783-2754. If you wish to report a tip anonymously, you can call Capital Region Crime Stoppers at 1 (833) ALB-TIPS, or visit their website.
