Police ID 3 suspects in alleged hacking of town account
By Mike BergerCanton police plan to bring three Connecticut residents to court and charge them with felony counts of larceny over $250 (false pretenses) after officials found a town of Canton vendor account had been compromised.
Detective John Ruane was credited with cracking the case, and he is in the process of summoning the three individuals to a Connecticut court to face at least 10 counts of larceny over $250. Ruane said the three suspects have no connection to any resident or town official.
Finance Director Jim Murgia confirmed that the town has not lost any funds. He declined to give any further information due to the fact that it is an ongoing criminal investigation. Police are working with the town’s bank and Connecticut law enforcement officials on the case.
Ruane said Canton town officials notified police that the town’s vendor account had been compromised and money was expended from the account to pay unauthorized individual bills.
Ruane was able to link the unauthorized spending to an East Hartford property tax payment. Ruane said to his knowledge the account has not shown any further unauthorized spending. The three individuals, he said, have prior offenses for financial crimes.
Commenting on the case, Police Chief Ken Berkowitz said the three suspects are “all family members who are known to the local police.”
“[Ruane] traveled there in an effort to interview them; however, their families have kicked them out,” Berkowitz said. “We have not been able to find out where the actual compromise of our bank number was made. [Ruane] did speak to our Connecticut vendors and none of them were familiar with any of the people. I also want to commend Detective Ruane for his investigatory skills while examining this multi-jurisdictional, complex case.”
Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=34808
Posted by Mike Berger
on Nov 18 2016. Filed under News, Police & Fire, Town Government.
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