ARLINGTON COUNTY, Va. (WUSA) - Two young women walked into every precinct of the Atlanta Police Department and allegedly scammed dozens of officers out of their personal information.
Sounds like a movie script... but it may have happened in Arlington County, Virginia too.
Cintia Ximena Pedone and Dawnetta Patrice Underwood are charged in Atlanta, Georgia, with multiple counts of identity theft and racketeering. They allegedly posed as AFLAC representatives offering new and improved benefits and obtained personal information from 39 city employees, including police officers.
But they didn't fool Lt. Gary Harper. "The female that I spoke with, she had on rather tight clothing and that doesn't fit the norm as somebody coming to do business with the city of Atlanta."
Dressed in the same manner, according to our source, at least one of those women recently gave a presentation to Arlington County police.
Nine News has obtained an internal memo sent out on August 13, 2012. In it, Lt. David Giroux tells staff that Atlanta detectives "learned that the same suspects, or rtelated [sic] suspects, had been at Arlington P.D. and had possibly "sold insurance" to officers here. "
The email says "It seems that some officers gave these suspects personal information or allowed them to view their PRISM information."
The email encourages everyone to check their accounts "for any suspicious activity."
An Arlington Police officer who sent WUSA the memo said some fellow officers are furious. He said, "The department let those people in and represented them as legitimate. They were scam artists. Our people were set up and the department is liable. If the police department can't protect its own people, how are they going to protect the community?"
But Arlington County Police public information officer Dustin Sternbeck said the women committed no crime in Arlington County and that nobody was scammed.
Sternbeck also said that Arlington County Police checked with their AFLAC representative who confirmed the women were legitimage AFLAC representatives. Sternbeck said that the Atlanta Police Department had "jumped the gun" by arresting the women.
But Sgt. Davenport in the Atlanta police department said, "We didn't jump the gun." Davenport said they don't believe the women are AFLAC representatives and told 9 News "that's why we arrested them and put them in jail."
WUSA9 News contacted AFLAC which confirmed the women arrested in Atlanta are NOT AFLAC representatives. Laura Kane, Vice President of Corporate Relations for AFLAC, said she had "no comment" about whether those same women were in Arlington County, and whether or not they were representing AFLAC, citing an on-going investigation.