SCHENECTADY Police seek suspect in senior scam Woman, 21, allegedly posed as IRS agent BY STEVEN COOK Gazette Reporter
Authorities are seeking a woman who posed as an IRS agent to bilk a 95-year-old woman from the Bellevue neighborhood out of more than $1,500. The federal charge against 21-year-old Jessica L. Paradiso was filed in federal court Tuesday. A warrant has been issued for her arrest. She is accused of persuading the woman in March to hand over a check for $1,550 to cover taxes. Papers filed in federal court outline the scam. Investigators interviewed the neighbors and even interviewed Paradiso in April. Paradiso allegedly admitted to the scam, though she wasn’t arrested then, according to authorities. The scam involved two contacts with the elderly victim in March. The initial contact worked, resulting in the $1,550 check. But when she came again, neighbors noticed and confronted her, authorities said. It was in that confrontation, where the neighbors demanded identification, that Paradiso allegedly produced her own driver’s license. The neighbors took down the information and forwarded it to police. “The IRS does not send people to the house,” said a neighbor, whose husband asked to see identification. “When he said to her, ‘Let me see your credentials,’ she said she didn’t have them, she would have to go home to get them.” The husband responded that the police would be there when she returned. She never did. The neighbor asked that their names not be used. The initial incident happened March 20, according to papers filed in Federal District Court in Albany. Authorities say Paradiso went to the apartment because she had been told that the woman was an easy mark. She allegedly identified herself as an IRS employee, told her that she owed additional taxes and that she was there to collect those taxes. The resident then wrote a check for the amount, $1,550. She wrote the check to “Cash,” believing she was paying the IRS. The check was soon cashed. Four days later, Paradiso returned to the home, this time demanding $1,650 for additional “taxes,” according to papers fi led in the case. This time, the neighbors noticed. “We all try to keep an eye on her,” a neighbor said Tuesday. “She’s very friendly to us, we’ve always gotten along well.”
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