NJ woman, others, stole more than $160,000 from a 94-year-old victim in Old Saybrook, police say
By Rob Polansky
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OLD SAYBROOK, Connecticut (WFSB) — A woman from New Jersey is one of three people accused of stealing $164,284 from a 94-year-old man in Old Saybrook.
According to Old Saybrook police, Ashlee Crawford, 33, of Plainfield, NJ, fraudulently wrote and cashed checks she obtained from the victim’s account.
Police said they began their investigation in Feb. 2022.
The victim reported to them at that time that he fell victim to fraud.
Investigators determined that someone had created a fraudulent online account through the victim’s account and ordered a checkbook to be sent to New Jersey.
After 10 separate search and seizure warrants were executed at various financial institutions, police said it was found that Crawford wrote out and cashed checks connected to the account.
Crawford was seen on video surveillance footage in New Jersey depositing and withdrawing the fraudulently-obtained funds from her own bank account. An arrest warrant was obtained for Crawford, along with her other accomplices, that charged her with two counts of second-degree forgery and first-degree larceny.
Old Saybrook police said their detectives traveled to New Jersey on Tuesday. Crawford was extradited from Bergen County Jail in Hackensack, NJ, where she was being held on Old Saybrook’s arrest warrant. She was brought back to Old Saybrook where she was held on a $250,000 bond.
Crawford was scheduled to be arraigned in Middletown Superior Court on Wednesday.
Police said her arrest marked the second in the case. Earlier this year Crawford’s accomplice, 27-year-old Shannon Outlaw II of North Brunswick, NJ, was extradited from the state on an arrest warrant that charged him with second-degree forgery and third-degree larceny. It was determined that he stole from the victim.
His case is still pending, police said.
One other person remained at large as of Wednesday.
Vitaliy Litvinenko, 35, of Vancouver, WA, has an active arrest warrant that will charge him with third-degree forgery and second-degree larceny.
Old Saybrook police chief Michael Spera called the investigation lengthy and complex.
“We will not tolerate our elderly citizens being targeted by criminals,” he said. “We will use every tool we have to protect them and bring those to justice who prey on our most trusting and vulnerable residents.”
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