Prison bars with keys
By Patti Weaver
STILLWATER — Two men from Florida have been charged in Payne County with agreeing with unknown co-conspirators to bilk an elderly Stillwater resident out of money by a confidence game — allegedly involving getting a grandson or close friend out of jail in Florida.
Jorge Mario Jaramillo Orozco, 28, of Orlando, was arrested on April 5 outside the home of an 88-year-old Stillwater man, who was told $12,000 was needed to get his friend out of jail in Florida, an affidavit alleged. His friend was living in a group home in Oklahoma and never went anywhere without his aide, the affidavit alleged.
Jaramillo Orozco has been jailed on $100,000 bail pending a May 2 court appearance on one count of exploitation of an elderly person or obtaining money by false pretense and one count of conspiracy to commit a felony.
Jaramillo Orozco, who had $13,402 in cash in a satchel, claimed he sold clothes and dogs to make money; he said he was in Oklahoma to pick up a package, Stillwater Police Officer Cory Westbrook alleged in an affidavit.
While talking to him, “I saw the silver SUV which was parked facing north in the road pull away causing the tires to squeal as it left the area. I could see a concerned look on Jaramillo Orozco’s face. I asked him why his ride had abandoned him,” the officer wrote in an affidavit.
In these types of investigations, “individuals involved are part of moving criminal enterprises. It should be noted that Jorge Mario Jaramillo Orozco has no ties which link him to Oklahoma,” the affidavit said.
The next day, Alexander DeJesus Hernandez, 34, of Pompano Beach, was arrested outside the home of a 79-year-old Stillwater man, who had received a phone call that morning from a person who sounded like his grandson, Stillwater Police Detective Richard Leport wrote in an affidavit.
“The caller explained he was in Florida attending a funeral,” and riding in an Uber in which police found a gun and cocaine, so he was arrested, the affidavit alleged.’
The caller handed the phone to a man claiming to be an attorney, who said the grandson could be released from jail that afternoon on $15,000 bail, the affidavit alleged. After the 79-year-old Stillwater man, who had verified his grandson was not in Florida, declined to wire the money or send it by FedEx or UPS as the attorney requested, he agreed to have a courier pick up the money, the affidavit alleged.
About noon that day, a driver wearing a Covid prevention mask and sunglasses got out of a U-Haul pickup and walked toward the 79-year-old man’s house — while two Stillwater police detectives watched, the affidavit said.
Hernandez said he was there to pick up an envelope but did not know the contents and was only paid $500 by “George” to collect it, the affidavit alleged.
Later in an interview with Detectives Mary Kellison and David Adney, Hernandez said he “agreed to work for ‘George’ to make some quick cash,” and was paid to buy a plane ticket from Florida to Kansas, then to travel by bus to Oklahoma City where he got a hotel room, rented a U-Haul truck, and waited for another contact, the affidavit alleged.
Hernandez “was provided an Apple iPhone by ‘George’, who gave him addresses of places to pick up envelopes, the affidavit alleged.
“Alexander Hernandez traveled from Florida to Oklahoma to participate in this criminal enterprise,” and has no ties to Oklahoma, the detective alleged in his affidavit.
Hernandez was jailed on $50,000 bail on charges of exploiting the 79-year-old Stillwater man on April 6 by attempting to get $15,000 from him to post bond for “his grandson,” and exploiting an 82-year-old woman of $9,500 on April 4 to get “her grandson” out of jail, court records show. Hernandez, also charged with conspiracy to commit felonies, has been ordered to appear in court on May 2.
