Woman Pleads Guilty in Phone Fraud Case

An Augusta woman has admitted scheming to defraud more than 50 people, mostly elderly women, over the telephone by posing as a fraud investigator for a credit card company.

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Sob Story Woman Accused of Fraud

First, she said she was a wounded Iraq War veteran, and showed a scar on her stomach to prove it.

Then, the Georgia woman said her mother had been killed in the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center. And finally, she explained her lack of money, clothes or a home on the fact other close family members had been killed in Hurricane Katrina.

The story was so sad and heartrending that Manatee County resident Trudy Johnson, who met the woman outside a Georgia hotel in June, asked her to come to Bradenton to live with her and her husband until she got her life turned around.

In the end, though, April Arrington Edwards' stories were shown to be mostly, or perhaps completely, fabricated.

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Spam Leads $4900 Fraud

A local resident reported that she had been conned out of $4900. On November 15th, the resident made the report to Sheriff's Sgt Jason Williams.

The 47 year old female reported that she answered an e-mail about becoming a mystery shopper. She then received a package via fed-ex containing two checks, each for $2450. She was told to use $100 to shop at Wal-Mart, use $50 for gas, and keep $200 for her pay.