In a large-scale bust by the Santa Rosa Police Department, four local residents have been arrested for their involvement in a $7.8 million money laundering and international telephone scam enterprise after a meticulous 12-month investigation. Detectives launched the case following a request from a detective in West Deptford, New Jersey, who was probing a scam that fleeced a local citizen. The investigation led to the arrest of 23-year-old Anthony Chand after it was found that he withdrew approximately $1,000 of the stolen funds in Santa Rosa.
Further investigation revealed Chand was in league with three other Santa Rosa area accomplices, working in cahoots with an overseas call center to launder the stolen money in Sonoma County. Authorities pinpointed a significant nerve center at the residence of 21-year-old Alexander King Knigge on Arthur Ashe Circle, equipped with incriminating white boards filled with victim information and a cache of cell phones linked to identity theft. According to the Santa Rosa Police Department, $80,000 in cash was also found in a hidden safe at his residence, along with luxury items bought with scammed funds.
The schemers, including Knigge, 21-year-old Healdsburg resident Brileigh Blosser, and 22-year-old Santa Rosa resident Calvin Valledor, employed a complex array of methods to launder money, promptly clearing it out of accounts to skirt bank detection and law enforcement scrutiny. They were meticulous in the creation of accounts using stolen identities from many of the nearly 100 victims identified so far. The con involved duping mainly elder victims across the US into wiring money to controlled bank accounts under the pretense of various scams, from fake law enforcement fines to computer virus threats.
Detectives followed the trail of laundered funds across over 150 bank accounts and numerous online service providers. These accounts were swiftly frozen, illustrating just a fragment of the web spun by this fraud ring. "Through a remarkable effort, detectives worked backwards and identified victims throughout the country that were scammed into sending money to Knigge," shared the Santa Rosa Police Department. These efforts aim to kickstart investigations that could potentially return some of the pilfered money back to the victims.
The long arm of the law caught up with the suspects as warrants were issued and arrests made, with Knigge and Blosser nabbed in Petaluma and Valledor during a traffic stop in Santa Rosa. As the investigation presses on, the Santa Rosa Police encourage anyone with information on this money laundering operation to come forward and reach out to their Property Crimes Detectives.
