Two people are facing theft charges for allegedly deceiving a Rockland woman into sending them about $20,000.
Franklin state police said in a criminal complaint that the woman sent the money to Aaron Davison, 53, of Salem, Oregon, and Brandy Smith-Gladden, 38, of Waynesboro, Virginia, at the request of someone the woman met through an online dating service.
The woman told police she had made an online dating profile in December 2020 and was contacted by another person on the dating site identifying as “Russell Parker” who led the woman to believe he was in the military and deployed overseas, the complaint said.
The woman bought multiple Walmart gift cards and sent the information to “Parker”, and he also sent her money with the instructions to buy Bitcoin with it and transfer it to his account, which she did, the complaint said.
The woman told police she wasn’t sure how much Bitcoin she had received or transferred to “Parker’s” account, the complaint said.
She was also instructed to wire money via Walmart to Smith-Gladden, who she was told was a friend of “Parker,” according to the complaint.
The woman sent Smith-Gladden about $7,200 through five wire transfers between Jan. 13 and March 30 this year, the complaint said.
During the investigation, police received records of wire transfers made to Smith-Gladden via Walmart that confirmed the Rockland woman’s story and showed that Smith-Gladden had received “a large amount of money wires from numerous other individuals with addresses in various states across the United States,” the complaint said.
The complaint also noted that during several money wires Smith-Gladden received, Walmart employees who processed the transactions entered comments such as “she comes here all the time getting money from different people,” “she gets money from people she doesn’t know” and “in here 3 to 4 times a week.”
State police obtained bank records for Davison’s account that the woman sent the money to, the complaint said.
Police observed a record of the $10,000 transfer the woman made as well as making the observation that “overall the account activity appeared suspicious with random deposits and large withdrawals,” the complaint said.
In all, the woman sent “Parker” about $20,000 by various means before she became suspicious because of the repeated requests for money and ended the relationship, the complaint said.
At that point, “Parker” sent threatening messages to the woman and her children telling them “Getting you guys killed any moment from now,” the complaint said.
Davison and Smith-Gladden have been charged with felony counts of theft by deception-false impression, conspiracy-theft by deception-false impression, and receiving stolen property.
