New Canaan Police on Feb. 27 arrested a 37-year-old Bronx, N.Y. man by warrant after determining that he’d pretended to be a Citibank employee to steal $9,000 from a 76-year-old Heritage Hill Road woman last fall.
Officers Nolan Heintz and Roy Adams met the victim at home on Oct. 15, according to an affidavit from Heintz that forms the bulk of an arrest warrant application signed Feb. 11 by state Superior Court judge Bruce Hudock. There, police learned that she has been phoned the day before by an unknown man who told her he was a Citibank employee “and he asked her about some transactions [she] may have recently made,” Heintz said in the affidavit, obtained by NewCanaanite.com through a public records request.
“The suspect listed a $1,000 and a $2,000 transaction as the recent transactions,” it said. “[The victim] responded that she had not made those transactions. The suspect followed up by stating he was trying to protect her and requested she send him $9,000 to move into a separate account. The suspect advised her to promptly report to Citibank (175 Elm St., New Canaan) to deposit the money into his account.”
The woman used her Citibank checking account for the deposit, putting the funds into an account under the name ‘Caesar Alberto Payano.’
The application said, “After making the deposit, [the victim] stated that the suspect kept calling her asking for more money. At this point, [the victim] saw that this was possibly a scam,” blocked the suspect’s phone and contacted Citibank.
“[The victim] stated the suspect did not have an accent and that ‘he sounded normal,’ ” the arrest warrant application said.
On the same afternoon after interviewing the victim, officers discovered from bank officials that the suspect had received about $4,500 and spent it, though Citibank was able to block delivery of another approximately $4,400.
Through a search warrant, NCPD was able to identify the person who had opened the account where the victim’s $9,000 had been directed as ‘Cesar E. Alberto Payano’ of the Bronx, the affidavit said.
Police obtained a phone number and on Nov. 7, Meintz called it.
“A male answered the phone and said hello,” the NCPD affidavit said. “I introduced myself and asked if I was speaking to Cesar. The male stated that he only speaks Spanish. I told him I will call back when I have a Spanish speaking officer available.”
That happened about one week later when Officer Sebstian Obando phoned the number and Payano “confirmed” all identifying information in the search warrant. Payano also provided his New York state driver’s license number but “did not provide any explanation regarding the $9,000 deposit.”
Meanwhile, officers continued to check in with the victim to see whether any of the stolen funds had been returned (no).
During their investigation, police found that Payano had opened his Citibank account in September and provided not only his driver’s license but also a Social Security card and green card, the arrest warrant application said. On the day the funds were stolen—in fact just 19 minutes after the victim made the transfer— surveillance footage at the bank showed the suspect starting to make withdrawals from the receiving account. Police also investigated IP information to determine that a single mobile device had been used in making transactions via Citibank’s mobile app, the application said.
Citibank closed the suspect’s account on Nov. 10 and, in December, credited the victim for about $4,400.
The following month, on Jan. 30., Meintz tried to call Payano again.
“I identified myself as a New Canaan Police officer, at which time Payano responded with an inaudible statement and disconnected the call,” the affidavit said. “Approximately two minutes later, I placed a second call, [during] which Payano said hello before the line went silent. I placed a third call, during which Payano stated ‘No English.’ ” When Obando phoned back, the suspect didn’t answer.
Police obtained an arrest warrant on a charge of second-degree larceny. Under state law, a person is guilty of the felony-level offense if he or she steals “by embezzlement, false pretenses or false promise and the victim of such larceny is sixty years of age or older,” among other reasons.
Payano turned himself in at about 6:30 a.m. on Feb. 27. He was held on $100,000 bond and scheduled to appear in court the same day. According to Connecticut Judicial Branch records, Payano—still in custody, on $10,000 bond—has not yet pleaded and now is scheduled for arraignment April 8. He is being represented by the public defender, court records show.