Two suspects have been arrested in connection to an alleged phone scam in Flagler Beach, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office announced on Wednesday. 36-year-old Mardochee Malvoisin and 38-year-old Emile Destin Jr. are accused of defrauding an elderly man.
The FCSO was tipped off to the scam on Friday, June 5 when they received a call from a resident of John Anderson Highway. The man, who was described as elderly, said someone claiming to be Spectrum’s fraud department called him. They reportedly told him his account had been ‘compromised’.
The initial caller then passed the victim on to another person, the FCSO says. This individual reportedly claimed to represent the victim’s bank. They were said to have told him to “seal his debit card in an envelope and leave it in his mailbox”.
Upon receiving his instructions, the man did as he was asked. At some point thereafter, the card was picked up. The victim did not witness who took it from his mailbox. In the days that followed his card was used for $3,500 in fraudulent charges and ATM withdrawals in Palm Coast and St. Augustine.
The FCSO then began investigating the perpetrator of these fraudulent activities. They identified a vehicle and traced it to Malvoisin, a resident of Palm Coast’s R Section. As it turned out, Malvoisin was in the county jail already at the time. He has several unrelated charges on record since the beginning of June, including giving a false name to law enforcement, driving with a suspended license, and drug paraphernalia possession.
Still, the investigation wasn’t over. Detectives identified a second vehicle which they traced to Emile Destin Jr., a resident of North Miami Beach. The FCSO says Destin recruited Malvoisin for the scam. A warrant for Destin’s arrest was put out, and he turned himself in to the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office on Monday. As of Wednesday, Destin is in custody on $35,000 bond, pending extradition to Flagler County.
“These scammers convinced a senior resident to put his debit card in an envelope and place it in his mailbox, and they started draining his account,” said Flagler Sheriff Rick Staly. “Malvoisin already knows what a bunk at the [county jail] feels like, and soon Destin will, too.”
