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November 7, 2007

Local man allegedly behind scam

By ANDREA VanVALKENBURG

PLATTSBURGH — Looking for some extra money, a Malone man placed an online ad to sell some of his Xbox and PlayStation 3 equipment.

After being contacted about the sale through www.craigslist.org in mid October, Josh VanEss agreed to meet a man, who identified himself only as a Canadian resident, at a local parking lot to sell the $2,000 worth of equipment.

VanEss, 21, made the drive from Malone to Plattsburgh and exchanged the expensive equipment for a $500 traveler’s check.

But a few days later, VanEss realized he was not only out his video-game equipment but the money, too.

The authentic-looking check was a fake.

“It looked so real,” said VanEss’s mom, Patty Supernault. “He was careful about it and looked it over before he gave him the equipment. He thought it was real. It was (allegedly) authorized by a bank in Canada and even had Visa written on the back.

“He was brought up to be honest and wasn’t really expecting anything like that to happen. If my son got taken advantage of, someone else can too.

“We just don’t want this to happen to anyone else.”



ARREST MADE

Less than a week after the fraudulent transaction, State Police brought Dennis Pike, 33, of Plattsburgh into custody in connection with not only VanEss’s complaint but at least three others.

Each of the complaints involved transactions stemming from craigslist’s ads and the fake $500 checks, though VanEss was the only local resident initially believed to have been scammed.

The others traveled from the Albany area and allegedly met Pike in a local Sunoco store parking lot to sell the items they posted online.

One individual suspected the fraud at the time of the transaction and contacted authorities shortly afterward to warn them.

At the time of Pike’s Oct. 18 arrest, he was already on house arrest for violating the terms of his probation.

Pike now faces a range of felony, misdemeanor and violation charges.

He continues to be held at the Clinton County Jail on $10,000 cash bail or $20,000 bond and is expected to return to Plattsburgh Town Court at a later date to face the charges, which include five felony counts of second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument, four felony counts of fourth-degree grand larceny and a violation charge of unlawful dealing with firearms.

State Police said an execution of a search warrant at Pike’s Spaulding Road home recovered several items allegedly involved in the transactions.

As the scam investigation was continuing last week, State Police also charged Pike with an additional felony count of second-degree possession of a forged instrument and misdemeanor charges of petit larceny and fourth-degree attempted grand larceny.

Authorities are advising local residents that authentic traveler’s checks never exceed $100 and would not be issued in $500 amounts.

Officials believe at least one other person may have been taken by the $500 checks and ask that anyone with information about a craigslist sale involving a fraudulent check to contact State Police at 563-3761.



E-mail Andrea VanValkenburg at:

avanvalkenburg@pressrepublican.com

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