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Maisa Casale, owner of Vienna Espresso Bar & Bakery and two Future Scholars Academy locations in Tippecanoe County, said an unknown person had access to three of her business bank accounts, according to a West Lafayette Police Department report. and reported that approximately $300,000 had been stolen.
On Tuesday, January 2, Casal went to the West Lafayette Police Department to report the fraud and spoke with Officer Chad Kendricks. At the time, Casal did not provide the amounts stolen from each person’s account, according to the police report.
The Journal and Courier left a message for Ms. Casal but could not reach her for comment.
According to the report, Casal told police that on Dec. 21, he was contacted by Chase Bank about suspicious charges totaling $2,000 on a debit card linked to his business account at a Walmart in Georgia. He said he was informed. According to a police report, Ms. Casale removed approximately $300,000 from her business accounts after contacting Chase Bank to confirm that the transactions were fraudulent, even though all accounts had previously been frozen. He said he later learned that he had been taken out.
Once the company account was frozen, Casal said she could no longer receive calls or text messages on her cell phone, the report said. Casal told police he tried calling his cell phone from a different number but got no answer, so he took his phone to an AT&T store and reported the problem. AT&T staff told her that a call forwarding feature had been enabled on her cell phone so that all calls and text messages would be forwarded to another cell phone number. According to her police report, Casal said she believed the person who hacked her business account was the same person who hacked her cell phone.
In filing his report, Kendricks said Casal did not have documents from Chase Bank detailing the alleged transactions, the report states. Casal told police he would soon meet with Chase Bank and provide Kendricks with all documents related to filing the report.
But on Friday, West Lafayette Police Lt. John Eager contacted Kendricks and asked if Casal had provided bank information to police, according to a police report. After Mr. Kendricks told Mr. Eager that nothing had been done, Mr. Eager contacted JPMorgan Chase Global Investments to inquire about Mr. Casal’s fraud report. Eager said in his report that investigators could not provide much information without a subpoena, but he was able to tell investigators that their accounts were not losing money. .
Eager then contacted Casal and asked if she would be willing to share a copy of the bank statement showing the fraudulent transactions she had reported, the report said. According to the report, Eager could tell right away on the phone that Casale was upset, that she did not trust Eager or anyone else at the West Lafayette Police Department, and that she did not want this to happen. She reportedly said she didn’t want to say anything more. information.
According to the police report, Eagar said he could gather that Hazal was angry about media coverage of the incident. Eager said police explained to her that she was obligated to provide certain information to the media that was public record. Despite her explanation, Eager said Casale’s attitude toward her did not change, the report said, and Eager told Eager that Casale had threatened her employees.
Eager said Casal ended the call saying he didn’t want anything else from the West Lafayette Police Department. According to the police report, Eager then contacted Tippecanoe County Deputy Prosecutor Tim Kahn and said police would continue to subpoena JPMorgan Chase due to the large amount of money being reported as fraud. I asked if it was possible. Mr Khan said that would not be possible if Mr Hazal no longer wanted the police to investigate.
The report said Eager then contacted JPMorgan Chase Global Investments to relay his conversation with Casal, and that West Lafayette police did not issue a subpoena and precluded further investigation. He also said that he told them that he had no intention of closing the case because of this.
Gillian Ellison is a reporter for the Journal & Courier. She can be reached by email at jellison@gannett.com. Follow her at @ellison_writes as she was previously known as her Twitter.
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