Full Notification

For Immediate Release
                                                                                                            May 2, 2018
                                                                                   
Incident:         Two Men Arrested for Online Cell Phone Scam
 
Location:        Coventry Lane, Smithtown
 
Date/Time:     Tuesday, May 1, 2018 at approximately 2:10 p.m.
 
Suffolk County Police arrested two men in connection with an online cell phone scam.
 
Police were contacted by Sprint after several cell phones were fraudulently purchased online and scheduled to be delivered in Suffolk County. Identity Theft Unit detectives surveilled the delivery locations, which were vacant homes, and  following one of the deliveries arrested two men after they stole a package containing two cell phones that were purchased online using someone else’s name and Social Security number.
 
Michael Atta, 28, of 50 East 168^th St., Bronx, and Justice Asare, 40, of 1176 Walton Ave., Bronx, were charged with Grand Larceny 4^th Degree and Criminal Possession of Stolen Property 4^th Degree. Atta and Asare were scheduled to be arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip today.
 
While in this case, the arrestees used vacant homes for their deliveries, the department has received reports of incidents during which people went to occupied homes to pick up packages that they claimed were inadvertently delivered to the wrong location. In some cases, the person at the door will have fake identification using the same name as someone in the home where the package is being delivered. The Suffolk County Police Department is asking people to call 911 if a suspicious person comes to their door seeking a recent delivery.
 
 
A criminal charge is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
 
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Authority: Geraldine Hart, Commissioner 18-252780
Suffolk County Police Department  DS/1740