The O-town Scene

March 31, 2011

The O-town Scene - Oneonta, NY

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R.o.B.S. It’s hard to tell what’s true these days. Take a gander below, and guess if A. and B. are Real or B.S. (Answers at the bottom of the page.) B. CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE, N.J. – There was nothing innocent about coloring book pages with the words “To Dad- dy” scribbled on top and mailed to a New Jersey jail, authorities said. Suspect allegedly A. tried to scam grandma CHICAGO _ An alleged perpetrator of the so-called “grandparent scam” was arrested Friday by the FBI, thanks to a Chicago-area resident with a keen ear. The scam, which has been reported nation- wide, uses data from social networking sites such as Facebook to gather personal details about a target’s family. The scammer then calls the target grandpar- ents, pretending to be their grandchild, and asks for money, saying he or she is in jail or in trouble in a foreign country. Fred and Bonnie Laidlaw of Oak Park got a call in early March from a young man who claimed to be their grandson Paul. “He knew our names, he called us Nana and Papa _ we thought it was really Paul,” Bonnie Laidlaw explained. Laidlaw used the speakerphone function on her phone so that she and her husband could listen to “Paul” at the same time. 18 O-Town Scene March 31, 2011 But as they were tearing up at his story of woe, their housekeeper, Barbara Nowak, was listening as well. “I keep thinking, I know this voice,” Nowak said. Nowak was soon convinced that the caller was not the Laidlaws’ grandson, but was in fact her brother, who had recently been released from prison after serving a 15-month sentence for participating in a fraudulent telemarketing scheme. Nowak convinced the Laidlaws not to wire money to “Paul,” and instead reported the in- cident to local police, along with the tip about Nowak’s brother. Stan Nowak is now in custody, and the Laidlaws say they are very relieved. “I hated to think about Paul locked up in some jail,” Bonnie Laidlaw said. “I’m just glad he’s safe.” Five people are facing charges after the prescription drug Suboxone, which is used to treat opioid addiction, was turned into a paste and the paste was drawn on the pages, Cape May County Sheriff Gary Schaffer said. “In my 38 years of law enforcement, I've never seen anything like this,” Schaffer told The Press of Atlantic City. A source tipped off a corrections officer about the scheme, and the mailroom found coloring book pages with an orangey substance in February, the sheriff said. Charged in the case were prisoners Zach- ary Hirsch, Charles Markham and Paul Scipione. Also charged were Markham’s mother, Debbie Longo of West Wildwood, N.J., and Katelyn Mosbach of Trevose, Pa., who was still being sought. Three pages, including two depicting Snow White and Cinderella, were sent to the county prosecutor's office drug lab for New drug-smuggling device: Coloring books testing. Three inmates were charged with conspiracy and attempt to commit a crime. The sheriff said he has alerted other jail wardens and county sheriffs to be on the lookout for such drawings. The New Jersey drug bust was the second one this month involving Suboxone smug- gling behind bars. Authorities at a prison in Carbon County, Pa., earlier this month arrested 11 people in what they said was a scheme to hide the drug beneath postage stamps on letters mailed to inmates from family members. A. is B.S., by Emily Popek; B. is real, by The Associated Press.

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