so you're just investing the money for them yeah and then I take like a very small cut for that feet account she set it up she knows them very well this definitely fraud um to basically purchase like bitcoin and then invest it for this person and then he teenager tries to cash an 850 dollar cashier's check at a Florida bank staff flag it as counterfeit he leaves in handcuffs hello how's it going hey boss said they were having an issue with the check or something like that you know in there okay I gotta let you go bro I'll talk to you later said they closed your account or something like that they closed my account I don't have an account here sir okay then this is just a cash register okay do you have your license with you they took it okay give me a fair just think I just for the same way okay hey ma'am do you have his license for checks thank you where'd you get the cash you check from there's no place for a bitcoin oh OK so well you just like I sold some Bitcoin and then they sent you like a cashier's check for it no it's it's like a I just invest it for them basically oh okay don't know about so you're just investing the money for them yeah and then I take like a very small cut for a fee okay so they're saying they have an issue with the check I guess I'm not sure as to exactly what the issue is I mean this is obviously you what's with the they ask for a Social Security number too they ask for two forms of ID yeah interesting I don't know I've like I've done this a few times they they they send a they pay anyway like Zelle Cash app Apple Pay Cashier's check or Cashier's check yeah Cashier's check is more uncommon but I don't know why I just yeah it's whatever but I've never I've never even been to this bank and I don't even know about what Seacoast is I live 45 minutes north mmm hmm for Myers but it was just a Seacoast Bank like check check okay and I usually get like bank of America or Wells Fargo or whatever that yeah I just go cash it and I make the investment and I show them and everything everything's legit and that's it and then I got this one and I seen Sun Coast or not Sun Coast it's a sea coast I looked it up and there's one all the way down here and then I just I drove down here I don't know there's no other sea coast branches around here or anything like that no there's no there's the only one here okay alright that's I never even heard a secret I didn't even know that I got you just you're just gonna hang tight for the time being I was just trying to figure out what's up with the check and all that stuff so could be one of those things where the person handed you like a check is the the person that the check is like from is their bank account was closed correct yeah so their bank account was closed you just want to hang tight for the time being and then I'll come back with you how's it going how's it going that's good so um so what we got is a um we realized this check looked weird off the back cause it says cashier's checks and and and regular accounts don't have cashier's check um so we did some we pulled this account up couldn't pull it up we linked it to this uh account so we call this branch or this account's based out of winter uh Winter Park and I called there here in Florida yeah OK yeah we're only based in Florida so um anyway we called and talked to the senior crime advisor who's the one that's actually the account of the um person that handles that account she's very familiar with the whole account she set it up she knows them very well she said this definitely fraud um they closed this account a year ago for fraud um shut everything down and then this account is pulling up so when we pull this up this account has been purged off our system but when you pull it in there it actually pulls this company OK just doesn't show us an active account anymore um and and honestly I think this this guy's like oblivious I don't think he knows what's going on because I think it's a possibility that cause what he's explaining to me is that he normally gets like checks for like what he for his job and stuff like that normally just uh never cash used check before he's like alright that works I guess he saw that it was from Seacoast came down all the way down here to see if he can cash it so I'm assuming 8:50 you said this account was closed about a year ago right yeah it's your fraud yeah due to fraud OK it was shut down and so then yeah like I said this just popped up today we couldn't figure out how we just we called the branch of account OK again she's super familiar with everything she works with this account pretty much on a daily basis and um said that yeah that's definitely fraud but the weird thing is is the thing that triggered it is they put cashier's checks they must have bought cashier's check stock when they did this fraud uh huh um because that like a normal account like you or I or any company would have never it's gonna say cashier that's only issued by banks so um that's why that like was like a red flag right away this truck doesn't look like our trucks yeah not at all not at all so like we have like certain internal numbers that we use on the maker line here the this account number is the account number that was closed and when we issue cashier's checks we don't put account numbers for um just security purposes we use internal account numbers when we issue them um so they can't take out $850 from an account that was already closed so it's and what's concerning is that he's getting checks from different places and he could be part of like he I don't know if he's a victim or whatever but he could be falling if he's getting checks from different places for Bitcoin or whatever it is yeah so according to him is like he manages their accounts for them and since they don't have an understanding of how Bitcoin works I suppose and then he gets a small fee for how much depending on how much like they make through um his like basically like a broker to some extent um so let me talk with him real quick um if I can are you able to like a scan a copy of that for me if that's okay just to check itself and then I'll see you I'm gonna talk with the other officer over here and I'll go down I can make that yeah that'd be perfect thank you okay so who handed you that check or the cashier's check you just received the via the mail OK I have the package with the little mail slip on it where it's in my car the envelope OK yeah we can just go ahead and grab that you have your keys with you OK so the passenger side or something like that OK that you there you go yeah okay I got you sadly no no I was just I was just curious to didn't know you don't have anything in the car you just need to take a look at it no no okay that's literally all it was it's just from no Matthew Morgan Oxford that's me that's the guy who sent it that's the guy that's me okay just hop back inside for me brand new like I we've never dealt with him before I don't know it's just another customer and my boss was like yeah you're gonna get um he's gonna ship you the cash we're checking he just said you wanted bitcoin oh OK I I we usually use Atms bitcoin Atms I yeah I know what you're talking about sorry about that thank you real quick that account is it I'm trying to see this is the person sent oh that's who sent it I don't know we have that person here um is that a signer on this account yeah let's see so he was informed that he would get the cashiers check via the mail this kid right here and then this is how he received it from that person that's him right there hey too yeah here if you want to just take a gander Freddy Mendoza yeah that's right can I have yeah you trying to get a photo copy of that um I guess I could right that's easier than doing all of this yeah you should probably do that yeah we um so that account is closed you said right yeah a year ago and it was closed for fraud it was closed by the bank for fraud so these people probably got their account compromised they got like 20 accounts for this but this one was closed a year ago because it had someone you know so it's a possibility the person who and he he didn't this is first time in here you never seen him before enough like that it's never been OK and I think I honestly think just from the way he's been because most people this took forever this took us like 25 30 minutes to get to the bottom of this and most time times um if they're involved with they like skate you know they they they know something's up but let's get on out of here yeah he's just been like he's I mean we gave him a bottle of water he told me he's been super relaxed I don't I honestly don't think that he's yeah it could be one of those things where the person who conducted fraud on this account went through with trying to purchase Bitcoin send him that money yeah which is in a closed account and I'm gonna ask him and see if he had any like they think like money basically sent to the Bitcoin sent to these people and this is like them paying them back for it yeah or if you make sure he wasn't yeah and then this is like a fake check that they sent him yeah excuse me sir hey with that um with that account that the check you received did you send them like any bitcoins like that or anything or is it just yeah like any money to them I didn't send them anything so this is the way it works is like that you receive it then you go through with like um yeah we can take it like um I don't even know what the percentage is I think it's like a 5% fee for the investment OK is it just you that does this or is it like you it's for somebody yeah OK I got you just they they have supposedly and then you know that people who just want to invest I don't actually find the people myself and then and then yeah it's like Zelle or Cash App or anything like that and then we do um like Bitcoin and then like Solana and like other like forms of crypto but okay so you haven't sent the that the person sent you that anything as of yet never sent them anything never heard of their name nothing like it's just a I've been through this probably 15 times now I just started a few months ago with them but OK I've done quite a few now yeah you've done a couple already but this is the first time this has happened yeah I mean with this guy I don't know who this is but OK tag on your car what's up with that it's not coming back to the same place I just got the car literally a week ago I have a week ago in there so okay the tag what tag is on there I don't know I just got old tag your old tag to a different car you can't do that what do you mean you can't you have to like transfer 30 days you have no you have to transfer the information like right away technically you're driving an unregistered vehicle'cause the tag is like in the top of it you have 30 days in the state of Florida right my stepdad is call your county FBI I'm pretty positive that like you have to have it like like attempt tag you're full they're full good to send you have to you you sign title no you didn't sign title no I I I was I had a buddy who signed the title in the wrong spot and the whole thing was screwed so he told me like do it at the DMV so you don't accidentally do that how have you been in contact with hmm how have you been contacting never contacted him it's through the it's through what oh okay so it's your boss basically basically yeah okay um do you have his number I yeah OK I do do you look this people texting people like crazy yeah who you've just been texting what the your boss or something like that no just my I'm meeting up with a friend later to go out tonight I guess okay so I'll be back this is his boss so he's saying is that is that his cut or is that what he's using to buy bitcoin cause bitcoin is at $83,000 that is what he uses I mean yeah you can buy chunks of it hey you can buy fractions sir I can see if um so this is no you're good to go thank you I can use it to invest in other things that's how my understanding I don't need her from what I know how it works are you leaving for the day no oh OK oh then it's not a big deal we don't need you right this time do you have your phone number this is supposed to be his boss OK alright perfect thank you oh you got you got the phone number for his boss for this guy for no so according to him he goes through with his boss and that you will see the information or whatever and that he goes through with the one that's in I guess a bit in contact with this guy here I guess you know what to ask yeah thank you just star 6 7 it's my personal look at that ass okay I'll be right back okay thank you just a second yeah my front porch wants to talk it's okay it's a little one it's Officer Basquez yeah okay uh Melissa yeah uh Melissa you're on the phone with Officer Basquez thank you and I she will hi officer hi how's it going she's she's in our fraud prevention area good I'm in the fraud department with Seacoast Bank and I just wanted to get an understanding we've confirmed that this is a counterfeit check that this kid is trying to cash okay and um I understand you guys were trying to find out if was a signer is that what you guys were trying to do correct yeah do we know if he's signer uh signer for the company or whatever accounts from so this is yeah is who you're you're looking to see if it's a signer is that correct correct yes OK so the no he is not OK what I'm guessing is I can you tell me what type of conversation this kid is or what type of story this kid is telling you from my understanding about how he got it and who he's getting it from yeah so from my understanding is that he explained that he received a check via the mail from this gentleman here named um and he usually does this through his boss which is my other officer speaking to right now um according to him he received $850 um via cashier's check um to basically purchase like bitcoin and then invest it for this person and then he the way it works is he basically takes a 5% cut is the way he explained it to me yeah he's a he's a mule hmm awesome he's he's a he's involved in some type of mule activity this is a scam so we actually see this all the time I don't know if you see that in your area or not often times so um out of curiosity so what you're saying is that the check itself is like fraudulent or like it's not it's counterfeit yeah OK it's counterfeit OK alright this individual and in yeah he's he's a mule for this activity so whoever his boss is is getting him to do to do the mule yeah that's what we were like thinking of like initially that specific account that he's trying to cash a check from has been closed for fraud for about a year okay so yeah it's kind of it's what the Miss Melissa Rodriguez is telling me she's part of their fraud department for this uh for the bank OK so so he's I tried so the number for his boss numbers out of service OK yeah but he's texting on WhatsApp which means you can just be on Wi-Fi and WhatsApp or talk Wi-Fi and all that stuff right there it's like a name yeah I'm so just ask and see who the hell he's texting what's up just ask and see who's texting who he's texting but he's texting boss I mean the way it works is like he's in possession of the check he's attempted to cash it he wasn't able to finish it my understanding is like he has knowledge of it does yeah it's so it could be one of those things where like that I mean the way this lady explained it was like it could be one of those things where hey but he's doesn't know what the fuck was going on he's just trying to catch his check basically for someone else for his boss who's basically trying to screw him or he doesn't know but yeah he's trying to like which makes sense I mean this could be one of those things where he doesn't know or he doesn't know exactly what he's doing I just try to pinpoint as to what the fuck it is how did you how did you meet the guy you're talking to I think it was yeah through WhatsApp did you just ask me that no that was another officer I'm trying to make sure is it through WhatsApp or something like that or that's what will we contact on I I think it's I don't know if we met on Telegram or WhatsApp but it's one of the two which I know is like a fishier platform yeah because it's an undercover thing uh huh but um yeah I had never like dabbled in those I'm on Telegram for like groups for crypto they make like call outs for like ones to get in on but that was it and then I genuinely I just got done telling somebody I don't know which one um that I was super heavy into weed smoking the last two years and I just quit it impaired my memory like crazy and I genuinely I don't remember anything I don't even remember what I ate for breakfast I just my a two year relationship I just went through got destroyed because of that as well OK like you name it I so you just during that time you had made contact with this gentleman you just don't recall when or how you made contact he probably reached out to me OK I don't so you're just dealing doing business with him basically yeah I mean I don't like I told them there's like Facebook ads for like remote jobs and stuff like that yeah so it might have been that so that's the right Facebook is a local thing you know what I mean so I don't think that was it cause I doubt he's local might be but I don't think that was it he probably reached out to me some way because of my experience so you have like some knowledge of how it works basically so he reached out to you yeah so he reached out to you to some extent possibly or you reached out to him like I said it was a few months ago I've been like through so much the last like six months I can't even understand like yeah I I really don't know and I don't like deal with him a lot this is not a full time job or anything he hits me up like every now and then it's like oh I this person wants to make an investment I'm like OK OK it's not like a everyday thing or it's like every now and then you'll contact me once a week maybe yeah OK she's the one that we spoke to earlier that said that the check itself was counterfeit hey Melissa sorry to bother you hey the police officers police officers had a couple questions for you uh it's Officer Vasquez and Blumquest hi uh this is Corporal Blumquest um I'm just uh we're getting close to having enough to prove knowledge so before we do that I just wanna confirm that the bank is willing to press charges cause they would be the victim in this situation being that the account is closed and he'd be taking money basically directly from the bank so we aren't gonna have any we would not have suffered a loss in this case because the account's not existent well I'm saying if if he succeeded in pulling the money out yeah yeah then then you would have suffered the law so that would make you the victim of the attempted fraud yep so yep as the victim is the bank willing to press charges yeah okay perfect alright that's all I needed so how did you get the check today it was in my mailbox well not my mailbox I it's I've been staying at my friend's house since okay I had him ship it there okay but you've never spoken to this person no and you've never met the dude on the right no no never talk to him don't know so how exactly do you get your cut do you take off the top yeah and then I have to deposit the rest of everything to my boss I I send him I send him a picture of the when I got it in the mail you know the check and make sure everything's the same all that stuff and like and the money and then I and then I put it in the Bitcoin thing and then I send it to whatever account or his wallet crypto wallet whatever or the business wallet I don't know what what I literally don't know anything else past that point and that's it right but obviously this does not appear to be a legal operation I didn't think so no it's a it's a crypto investment it's like you giving me a grand and saying like can you put this in on black for me it's a little different than that cause there's no interaction between us for that only so you mean cause he's the male of it cause like we never met no or what never met never spoke you've never met the boss we can't contact him to verify anything I don't know why you can't contact him now because he's not reading anything or nothing is going through on my end either because it's not I yeah I'm yeah I'm catching that now alright but being that you are essentially just taking money off the top and then depositing the rest I mean none of this seem like something that you should stop doing at any point no I'm I'm a teenager dude I'm not the smartest you know what I mean it was 50 bucks in my pocket and an investment I had to do for somebody and that fed me at the end of the day you know what I mean people sell drugs for a reason people traffic for a reason people dance on poles for a reason like you have to do what you gotta do you know what I mean my stepdad's a cop like I I he's FWC for Clare County he's I I I like yeah it's the same for him he tells me every day he's like we don't make we don't we make 50 60 grand a year you know and it's miserable but I do it because you know the job is fun and it is what it is and it keeps the food on my table but that's all it is you know right but that's it's a job where he's going in and I know it's not a relatable thing but yeah even even dancing on a pole it's it's a legit job that you get hired for you have an interview well that's most of the time it's under the table for that too but yeah but like this it didn't occur to you that this probably isn't legal I didn't care I needed money you know what I mean I don't I don't really give a shit you know I needed food on my table I've been homeless for months cause my mom kicked me out thanks to this I got my mom scammed out of $15,000 and she kicked me out last year at the end of last year I've been couch surfing the past five months and I just finally got a car last week for $500 because the and I can't afford to register it or anything too alright you know that's the I'm not trying to you guys this is my story dude I'm low no I'm gonna need you to stand up alright yeah what is okay can I get like an explanation at least exactly what is going on alright pass a fraudulent check man you try it's a fraudulent check yes it came back fraudulent yes and to an account that is locked yeah it's been shut down for over a year over a year yes since March of uh 24 awesome so I just myself on that one very cool love that for myself I'll just push myself even lower in life right now look it's a mistake alright do you have anything on you that you're not supposed to have wallet and keys that's it should be alright nothing that's gonna cut poker probably no alright what are these pills Viagra are they really yeah any jewelry other than you have a watch a couple rings and the earrings yep alright yeah yeah now I got some statements and stuff you might have to cross this forward a little bit yeah double walker how do people do this in the movies aw you gotta like sit up straight to some extent and then just lower your hands as much as you can I I they're on the track it's like angle there watch I watch your knees real quick I'm just gonna hit you the charge is uttering a forged instrument under Florida Statute 831 to a third degree felony whether it holds depends on a single legal question what did he know Florida Statue 831 2 requires proof of three elements the instrument was forged the defendant knew it was forged and he intended to defraud knowledge is the contested element the willful blindness doctrine holds that deliberately avoiding confirmation of known suspicion is legally equivalent to actual knowledge repeated transactions with an anonymous unreachable boss may satisfy that standard Miranda v Arizona 1,966 requires advisement of the right to remain silent before any custodial interrogation can be used as evidence against a defendant Berkheimer v Mccarty 1,984 held that voluntary questioning in a non restraining setting is not custody under Miranda California v Beheller 1,983 confirmed this standard statements made freely in a public bank lobby before any handcuffing most likely fall outside Miranda and remain admissible at trial Florida statue 985 101 requires officers to attempt immediate notification of a parent or guardian when a minor is taken into custody because this is a felony charge the arresting agency must also notify the school district superintendent within 48 hours these are mandatory obligations under Florida Chapter 985 a non violent felony by a minor ordinarily routes to juvenile court adult prosecution requires specific statutory criteria not evident in this record a search incident to lawful arrest is constitutionally valid but the admissibility of any evidence recovered here rises or falls entirely with the lawfulness of the underlying fraud charge lesson 1 independent verification from a bank fraud department not store front suspicion alone it is what transforms a hunch into legally defensible probable cause for arrest lessons 2 juvenile procedure is mandatory not discretionary failure to attempt parental notification or properly route a minor's felony creates direct grounds for suppression and procedural challenge charge exists whether the state can prove knowledge against the defendant who may himself have been targeted by the same scheme is a question this footage alone cannot resolve who bears the greater criminal responsibility the teenager who cashed the check or the person who designed the scheme and placed it in his mailbox