3 Charged In ‘Sophisticated Bank Fraud Operation’: East Lyme Police

EAST LYME, CT — Three men have been arrested in connection with a “sophisticated bank fraud operation,” according to East Lyme police.

East Lyme officers responded on March 31 to the Charter Oak Credit Union on Main Street in Niantic to investigate a report of a man, Trayvon Robinson, trying to open a fraudulent bank account while his two accomplices waited in the vehicle parked nearby, according to police.

Police said all three men were arrested before Robinson could open the account.

“These men are part of a larger criminal enterprise, the members of which have been using counterfeit documents to open accounts at various branches of Charter Oak Federal Credit Union,” police wrote in a post on Facebook. “They have surreptitiously obtained names and telephone numbers of customers of the bank, then pose as corporate security officers and convince the targeted customers / members to divulge personal bank account information, which they use to transfer money into the newly established accounts. Corporate security officers assisted the East Lyme Police with this investigation.”

Robinson, 34, of Waterbury, Jalan Hayle, 26, of Waterbury, and 26-year-old Terique Clarke of New Rochelle, New York, were all arrested on forgery-related charges, according to police.

Police said the arrests were the result of a “lengthy investigation into a sophisticated bank fraud operation.”

“This wasn’t luck — it was relentless police work, long hours, and zero tolerance for people who think they can steal their way through our community,” police wrote. “Let us be perfectly clear: if you’re committing fraud, you are not smarter than the system — you’re just next.”