One Jefferson County police department is being recognized for their assistance in helping bring down an international telemarketing scam.
The Wintersville Police Department, and Captain Louis Vandeborne were awarded a Certification of Appreciation by Criminal Investigation Division of the IRS for outstanding assistance and support.
Wintersville PD helped locate and eventually help convict Paul Toth Jr. of Wintersville for his role in laundering money for a Costa Rica-based “sweepstakes fraud.”
“We all have on common goal, and that’s to put the bad guy behind bars,” said Cpt. Vandeborne.
“The common goal, like the captain said, was to put the bad guys in jail. but we are also here to protect the elderly and the innocent, such as in this case where these telemarketers were scamming hundreds of thousand of dollars off of people even locally,” said Wintersville Police Chief Art Fowler. “It’s great to be recognized for being recognized for helping them stop this international fraud.
“When they contacted me, they told me who they were looking for, and with me being from the area, I knew the suspect that they needed to talk to,” Cpt. Vandeborne added.
Toth was sentenced to 108 month in federal prison and ordered to pay more than $300,000 in restitution.
