Cops say elderly woman victim of financial crime

GREENWICH — A Greenwich woman in her mid70s thought she had made some new friends after she sold her condo in central Greenwich.

A couple who run a Stamford moving business got to know the elderly woman and earned her trust, according to court documents. The woman, who walks with a cane and is unable to drive, later gave her personal banking information and access to her safety deposit box to the couple, and she sold her 2000 Porsche Boxster to them at a very low price.

The woman later found that the safety deposit box where she kept the proceeds of her condo sale had been illicitly accessed, according to court papers, and she was missing about $246,000. That loss is under investigation.

The sale of her Porsche to the Stamford couple, and the alleged forgery of a check, has led to criminal charges.

Kecia Fields, 47, of Cove Road, Stamford, was charged with forgery, issuing a bad check, conspiracy and larceny late last week. Jonathan Alexander, 55, of North Street, Stamford, was charged with larceny and conspiracy.

After the woman sold the condo, she hired Alexander & Sons Moving Co. of Stamford to move her belongings; Fields is the director of the company, according to court papers. The Greenwich woman later gave her friendship and trust to Fields, the documents say, and to her partner, Alexander.

The Greenwich woman sold her condo and took the proceeds from the sale in cash, placing the money in neat packages with bands around the stacks inside a safety deposit box at a Greenwich bank in early 2018. Fields was given access to her safety deposit box by the victim, in order to make deposits into a checking account, and bank records showed she went to the bank eight times in 2018, according to the court affidavit.

When the victim was driven to the bank later by a friend, the neatly package rolls of cash were “ransacked,” and only $43,5000 was left, the criminal complaint reads. The victim contacted police in late September of this year.

In addition, the woman sold her Porsche to Alexander for an agreedupon sum of $5,000. Usedcar websites list the resale value of that vehicle, with 50,000 miles on it, at between $8,000 to $17,000, the police determined.

The couple paid her only $2,000 for the vehicle, with one earlier payment bouncing, the court records state. Fields was involved in an accident with the Porsche in Stamford in May 2018, and she allegedly wrote a check from the victim’s account, forging her signature, to pay for the body work to repair the Porsche.

Police said they found the Porsche at Fields’ Stamford residence. The incident with the Porsche lead to the filing of the criminal charges.

The two suspects were arrested last Thursday. Each was able to post a surety bond of $150,000 for release.