On March 24, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office Announced Florida Woman Was Arrested For Fraud
Cheryl Jefferson, age 68, was arrested on a “fugitive warrant for fraud following a two-year investigation into the fraudulent sale of property in Flagler County.”
In January 2024, a woman was trying to pay her property taxes when she saw that a different name was listed as the owner of her property. That’s when she realized her property had been sold without her knowledge or consent. She notified the authorities, who began investigating the situation.
As detectives were looking into it, in April 2024, they caught another case of fraud on a vacant lot when the original owner’s cousin went to check on it and found someone had built a house on the lot without the owner’s knowledge.
Flagler County Sheriff’s Office reveals that the sale records of the vacant lot listed the owner as the seller, but the driver’s license provided was Jefferson’s.
As the investigation continued, detectives found wire transfers from both of the sales in the bank account of Jefferson, which she opened in 2022. She also wrote a variety of checks to herself and deposited them into another bank account.
The Sheriff’s Office says, “In addition to these deposits, detectives also determined that Jefferson wired funds from the account to her Coinbase account for cryptocurrency exchange. Jefferson then transferred cryptocurrency to two accounts, each owned separately by Nigerian men.”
FCSO Real Time Crime Center helped the Sheriff’s Office track down four similar cases involving Jefferson selling property that she did not own in Florida, Georgia, and Colorado. Authorities found $421,995.30 in her bank accounts from these sales.
While Jefferson is not denying committing the crimes, she claims she did so to help a friend.
The Woman Claims To Have Sold These Properties For A “Friend,” A Singer From Florida Georgia Line
Jefferson claims she met Brian Kelley, a singer from the award-winning country duo Florida Georgia Line, who asked her to help him sell the properties so he could build a recording studio in Nashville, Tennessee.
RELATED: Florida Georgia Line Reunites – Watch Their 1st Performance In 4 Years
Upon further search of her phone, detectives found her corresponding with someone she believed was Chase Rice, another country singer. The texts showed her “continued participation in receiving money and moving it to cryptocurrency.”
Sheriff Rick Staly released the following clever statement about Jefferson’s crimes:
“Crime knows no borders, and it doesn’t stop at the Florida Georgia Line. This criminal may claim she has some high-profile friends, but I don’t see her friends getting her out of the jam she’s put herself in.”
See her mugshot below.
There has been a rise in scammers posing as famous people, including country singers. So much so that the celebrities have issued warnings to their fans!
These schemes can look very convincing, often involving fake documents, urgent timelines, and deals that seem too good to pass up.