A man described as a “money mule” and accused of being sent by scammers to collect cash and other valuables from elderly residents in Baxter County appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court/Criminal Division Monday.
Sixty-two-year-old Melvin K. Colvin of Everett, Washington pled guilty to reduced charges and was put on probation for three years. The sentence was done under provisions of Act 346, meaning if Colvin stays out of trouble during his probationary period, he can petition to have his charges sealed.
Colvin, it turns out, had also been the victim of various scams and might have been scammed into making the trip to Mountain Home. The information he gave to the court indicated he believed he was actually working with the FBI and CIA to recover money he had lost to scammers when he made the trip to Arkansas.
No real money or other valuables actually changed hands in Colvin’s case.
The sting operation was similar to one carried out in August that also involved lawmen from several agencies and Trilogy Media, a group known for exposing scam operations and assisting police in rounding up people involved in those scams.
In the earlier operation, conducted in August, five money mules were arrested, some have been deported and others are jailed on the charges they picked up in Baxter County.
According to a joint press release from Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery and Mountain Home Police Chief Eddie Griffin, the second of the sting operations was in the planning stage at the time the initial operation was winding down.
In the operation resulting in Colvin’s arrest, decoys were used posing as elderly residents of this area.
In Colvin’s case, the decoy, posing as an 86-year-old man, was informed by the person running the scam who was located in Jamaica that someone identified as an FBI agent was driving from Washington State to Mountain Home to pick up $250,000 in cash and gold bars.
Colvin said the scammer had convinced him that he would be serving as a deputy FBI agent while on the mission to Mountain Home. Authorities were able to trace Colvin’s trip from Washington State through Nebraska, into Missouri and then arriving in Mountain Home.
Officers arrested Colvin when he arrived at a prearranged location to pick up the cash and “gold bars.” He told the court the house at the address he had been given by the scammer posing as an FBI agent “looked abandoned, things did not look right.
Colvin was initially charged with criminal attempt to commit theft of property, conspiracy to commit theft of property and using misleading caller identification.
All of the charges were dropped except using a misleading caller identification.
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