Fraudulent callers pretend to be Kent County Sheriff

KENT COUNTY, Michigan — Imagine getting a call from an unknown number telling you that there are three warrants out for your arrest and that you will go to jail if you don't pay bail.

It was a normal day for Sydney McKendry. She sat on the sidelines and watched her son practice soccer.

McKendry tells me: “All he said was that I should have appeared in court. I had failed to appear, I had been in contempt of court and I should have been a material witness for something that had to do with a job that I either currently do or have done in the past.”

It was a scam caller who, as McKendry describes it, pretended to be the “Captain of Kent County.”

“I put the speaker phone on and googled the Kent County Sheriff's Department. It was the Kent County Sheriff's Department phone number he called me from,” McKendry said.

Kailey Gilbert, Sergeant with the Kent County Sheriff's Office, explains that unfortunately these scam calls are very common.

“If you receive one of these calls, we strongly encourage the public to call us through our emergency call center and let us know,” Gilbert said.

Gilbert tells me that it is rare for the Kent County Sheriff's Office to call people and claim they owe them a certain dollar amount in order to avoid jail time.

“These suspects target our emotions and make you feel like your world is going to collapse if you don't pay this large sum,” Gilbert noted.

That's exactly what happened to McKendry. The scammer told her, “If you show up at the sheriff's office now, you will be arrested if you step on their property.”

This left McKendry faced with the reality of going to prison. McKendry said: “All I kept thinking was, 'How am I going to take care of my children?'”

The scammer told McKendry that she had to pay $75,000 bail due to her three arrest warrants. He then told McKendry that she could be polite and pay 10% of her bail, which is $7,500.

However, McKendry declined.

“He started talking on an intercom and said, 'Dispatch, please go and arrest Sidney McKendry.' He gave my address. They had my maiden name – they had a lot of information,” McKendry said.

It's a believable story that McKendry doesn't want anyone to fall for. “I think it's evil and terrible. What a terrible person who takes advantage of other people's fear to get money. This has to stop. This has to stop.”

Sergeant Gilbert told me that the Kent County Sheriff's Department continues to combat these scam calls directly.

If you receive one of these scam calls yourself, you will be asked to call the company's emergency call center.

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