Bristol District Attorney Thomas Quinn III is ticked off at a Fall River judge who set a bail he says is “clearly too low” for a 28-year-old illegal immigrant who allegedly tried to scam a Westport couple out of $6,000.
Assistant District Attorney Nicole Cheney pressed Judge Thomas Barrett to hold Hector Arias-Guzman, of Boston, in jail on $25,000 cash bail during an arraignment earlier this week on attempted larceny and conspiracy charges.
Arias-Guzman, however, has been free since he immediately posted a $4,000 cash bail that Barrett set during the Tuesday court appearance. Customs and Border Protection apprehended the defendant in January for entering the United States illegally via the Del Rio area of Texas, according to Quinn’s office.
“The amount of cash bail set in this case is clearly too low,” Quinn said in a release yesterday. “The defendant entered the country illegally in January and while residing here in Massachusetts is alleged to have used deception and manipulation to steal thousands of dollars from a local couple. Given the defendant’s immigration status and lack of connection to the area, he is definitely a flight risk.”
The saga started when Arias-Guzman called a Westport couple and fraudulently identified himself as their son who needed cash for bond after being arrested following a motor vehicle crash in Boston, according to a report from Westport police. If his “parents” didn’t deliver the money, he’d be immediately jailed, the report states.
The couple declined cash payment requests of $10,000 and $25,000 from a man who Arias-Guzman put on the phone identified as a public defender. However, through negotiations, the couple agreed on $6,000, an amount the caller claimed was needed to post bail, according to the report.
Westport Police Det. Sgt. Bryan McCarthy recognized the name given as the public defender, as well as the cell number, from a previous scam the week prior, when he spoke with the couple.
“(McCarthy) instructed the couple to return home and to call back if the fraudster called back with instructions for the money delivery,” the report states. “The fraudster did call back with instructions on how to package the cash and advised that a LYFT driver would be arriving to collect the money for delivery to Boston.”
That led McCarthy to assemble a surveillance team, consisting of detectives from area departments, that followed the LYFT driver to an address in Taunton.
Upon arrival, police spotted Arias-Guzman approaching the vehicle to take possession of the package. McCarthy and other officers in plain clothes chased Arias-Guzman down when the suspect noticed their presence and tried to flee on foot, the report states.
“Our request for $25,000 cash bail was appropriate,” Quinn said in his statement. “This is another example of what is occurring throughout our state and the country. Victims often do not report these types of attempted scams to police. We all need to be very vigilant to the scam artists who are trying to rip off law-abiding citizens of their hard earned money.”
