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Police arrest man for internet fraud

Date: October 28, 2004
Source: Petoskey News-Review


Police have arrested an Emmet County man on charges that he defrauded several people out of thousands of dollars under the guise of fraudulent electronic equipment sales over the Internet.

Cody Lee Mork, 20, of Petoskey was arraigned today, Wednesday, on charges of false pretenses $1,000-$20,000, a five-year felony; larceny by conversion $1,000-$20,000; a five-year felony; and using a computer to commit a crime, a seven-year felony. Mork's bond was originally set at $40,000 cash or surety bond and he remained in custody at press time today.

Emmet County Sheriff Pete Wallin said investigators from his agency used a search warrant on a house in Bear Creek Township at about 2:55 p.m. Monday. The search warrant was the culmination of a year-long investigation into Internet fraud, he said.

Wallin said that over the past year his department has received four complaints regarding a 20-year-old Petoskey-area man who has been selling electronic equipment via eBay and Yahoo Internet auctions. According to police, Mork is accused of listing items such as car stereos, DVD/CD players, and laptop computers for sale on the auction sites.

Mork allegedly would then collect money from the purchaser, but in three of the known cases the purchasers never received their items. In one case, the purchaser ordered several DVD/CD systems for $900 each only to receive CD players valued at just $39 each. Wallin said three of the victims are from out of state and one is from Michigan. In all, Mork is accused of defrauding the four known victims out of $7,500.

Wallin said investigators plan to conduct a forensic examination of Mork's computer to help determine if there are any more victims in this case.

Wallin said it took more than a year to put the case together because Internet crimes are very complicated investigations.

The sheriff noted that computer crimes are the fastest growing type of crime in the Northern Michigan area. He said his office gets some type of call related to computer, Internet or identity crimes almost weekly, and he reminds citizens to be cautious and to report these crimes or suspected crimes to your local law enforcement agencies. Anyone with questions may contact Det./Sgt. Bobra Johnston at 439-8904 or Det. JL Sumpter at 439-8901.


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2010-09-13 08:07:07 - This is a bunch of crap, leave it to the... Cody
2005-05-02 21:56:00 - THIS SHOULD BE SOLVED! NOW DO YOUR JOB. Tashaun Hayes
2005-05-02 21:55:57 - THIS SHOULD BE SOLVED! NOW DO YOUR JOB. Tashaun Hayes
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