Skip to main content

Local Briefs: Alleged Con Man Arrested

Oct. 12, 2023 9:15p

From WGTD News: 

A Miami man who was arrested as he tried to scam an elderly woman in Lake County has been tied to a similar con in Somers. An arrest warrant has been issued in Kenosha Court for 22-year-old Luc Vautier, who’s currently sitting in jail in Waukegan. Vautier was arrested earlier this month by Lake Forest police who were waiting inside the woman’s home. Earlier in the day, Vautier allegedly impersonated the woman’s grandson, telling a fake story about being in jail and needing bail money and offering to send a courier to the woman’s house to pick up the cash. While police were tipped off in the Lake Forest case, Vautier allegedly was successful in scamming a Somers couple. They later identified Vautier as the man who had come to pick up their cash. Another link to the case was made in an examination of Vautier's phone which showed he was in Somers on the day of the crime. 

-0-

A suspected case of fraud has prompted Kenosha County’s Register of Deeds to highlight a free service that’s designed to protect property owners. According to a news release, a summer home in western Kenosha County was put up for sale without the property owner’s knowledge. The attempted fraud was disrupted when a neighbor contacted the property owner.  The Twin Lakes Police Department is now investigating. Register of Deeds JoEllyn Storz is reminding residents of a free service that notifies property owners whenever a transfer, mortgage or other lien is placed against a property. Sign-up is on the Register of Deeds website. Storz says the type of attempted theft that prompted her warning is not uncommon in other parts of the country. Properties that are targeted are usually those that appear to be vacant.

-0-