Where’s The Money? Plainfield Woman Scammed Of $11K, Police Say

PLAINFIELD, IL — On April 27, 2021, an elderly Plainfield resident got a call from her grandson asking for $6,000 to make bail. He said he had been arrested after getting into a car crash. The woman sent the money, frantic to help her family. But soon after, her son realized she had been scammed.

Almost 10 months later, on Tuesday, Pennsylvania man Jose Vargas posted bond in connection with the incident after turning himself in to authorities Feb. 7, according to court documents.

Court documents say the scammer posed as the woman’s nephew. But, according to Stephen Kocher, the woman’s son, that’s inaccurate. He didn’t pose as the woman’s nephew but rather as her grandson, he told Patch.

"To be honest, it’s a little more pulling-at-your-heartstrings if it’s your grandson and not so much your nephew," Kocher said. "Yes, it’s relatives regardless, but providing money to get your grandchild out of jail is a little more impactful than having money getting your nephew out."

The scam started with $6,000, according to Kocher and Plainfield police. The woman instructed Kocher’s brother, with whom she shares a joint bank account, to deposit the money to the person she thought was her grandson. The person called again, this time posing as a lawyer, according to Kocher, and asked for another $5,000 to pay for fees.

"He posed as my mom’s grandson, then he posed as a juvenile lawyer for Will County, claiming that my nephew was incarcerated because he was in a traffic accident having driven without a license, underage," Kocher said. "Thirdly, he posed days later as a PNC banker after he realized the money that we deposited was frozen, was put on hold — it didn’t get into his hands — per the PNC bank telling us that. He … [was] trying to get us to lift the freeze that was on the deposit that we made to his account."

While his brother handled the money, Kocher soon after started searching for his nephew.

"I went to Joliet, went from prison to prison to detention center to detention center trying to find my nephew," he said, later adding that with each visit, he was "getting more and more irate because no one would produce him. No one had him."

It was during a visit to the Will County Courthouse, his fourth stop, where Kocher said he decided to try calling his nephew.

"We couldn’t call my nephew because he was in jail and they had confiscated his cell phone," Kocher said. "That’s what we were told, we couldn’t really reach him. So I called my nephew, and he was shocked to hear me so upset and distressed and said, 'What’s wrong with you?' And I said, 'I’m here in the Joliet courthouse trying to find you.' He said, 'I’m at my friend’s house, what are you talking about?' At that point, I realized, yes, we were scammed."

Kocher went directly to the police station and filed a report, and his nephew was in the room when someone from PNC said the money was frozen.

"I just felt so vindicated, so justified when he was getting arrested in the same courthouse when I learned that I was scammed," Kocher said. "It was like sweet, poetic justice."

According to Cmdr. Anthony Novak at the Plainfield Police Department, during an investigation, police detectives were able to identify Vargas as the scammer using surveillance video from a PNC Bank ATM and a driver’s license photo. Novak said the $6,000 deposit was successfully transferred into an account owned by Vargas, who he said began to quickly spend the money.

The additional $5,000, on the other hand, "should still be in PNC Bank’s possession," Novak said, while the bank completes an internal investigation into the situation.

But Kocher told Patch this isn’t what he was told.

"PNC Bank stated to us that both deposits — the initial $6,000 and the subsequent $5,000 — was frozen, that they did not go through, and that was verified on a conference call with a police officer, the original one that filed the report with us … with myself, with my brother, with my two nephews, on speakerphone, the phone lay flat on the desk."

Novak said he could not provide the bank statements that showed Vargas obtained the original deposit as "that still remains as evidence until the court proceeding is concluded." When asked for comment, Christina J. Anderson, senior vice president of media relations at PNC Bank, told Patch they cannot comment on customer matters or ongoing investigations.

"Restitution is fine, but I want the money that’s sitting at PNC's bank, which is ours," Kocher said.

A complaint warrant was filed with a circuit court in Will County on Dec. 29, and Vargas was charged with three felonies: continuing financial crimes enterprise, theft by deception and wire fraud. The man was indicted on Jan. 20, according to Carole Cheney, director of public affairs at the Will County State's Attorney's Office.

Bail was originally set at $150,000, with 10 percent to apply. But a Feb. 1 motion reduced Vargas's bail to $110,000 in exchange for his voluntarily surrender, Cheney told Patch. Vargas turned himself in to authorities and appeared in court with his attorney on Feb. 7, and posted an $11,000 bond to secure his release on Tuesday, according to Cheney.

Editor's note: This story was updated with new information after Stephen Kocher reached out to Patch to dispute claims made by police in an earlier version.