ALLEGAN, MI (WHTC) – That apparently didn’t take long.
Less than five hours after the Allegan County Sheriff’s Department issued a statement, with photos and a brief surveillance video, of a man wanted in connection with an apparent property scam scheme that may have gone beyond the county lines, a man and a woman were taken into custody on Thursday afternoon. No names were disclosed pending an arraignment in Allegan District Court.
The initial press release indicated that an unnamed logging company had been victimized on March 28th by a man identifying himself as a “Steve Sandalford” of Vicksburg. Claiming that he was a military veteran that had wanted to “flip” his property, the suspect produced paperwork suggesting that he had owned land that he wanted logged, signed a contract with the firm, and received an undisclosed amount of cash. When workers from the logging company arrived at the site and began work, the realtor for the true property owner responded by proving that the firm had been scammed.A similar incident had been reported in Three Rivers earlier in March, and detectives who couldn’t verify the existance of such a “Steve Sandalford” believe that other similar scams in the region may be traced back to the suspects.
Sheriff’s staffers and city of Allegan police officers followed up on a tip that came after the issuing of the press release, which led to the arrests and a partial recovery of the money taken from the victimized logging company. The investigation into the matter continues.
-Gary Stevens
