Colorado woman charged for allegedly posing as Salt Lake County Sheriff’s deputy to scam Utahn

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — A Colorado woman has been charged with allegedly impersonating a sheriff’s deputy to scare a Utah woman into transferring over $1,500.

Lexi Navarrette Johnson, 20, of Greely, CO, has been charged with communications fraud valued $1,500 to $5,000, a third-degree felony; theft by deception valued $1,500 to $5,000, a third-degree felony; and impersonating a peace officer or public servant, a Class B misdemeanor.

According to court documents, on June 11, the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office was contacted by a woman who said she had received a call from a blocked phone number. The victim told police that when she answered, the caller said they were a Salt Lake County Sheriff deputy and told her she had missed jury duty.

During the call, the person posing as the sheriff deputy told the victim she needed to pay a $2,200 fine for missing jury duty and threatened to arrest her if it wasn’t paid. The victim was told she could pay 40% of the fine to “clear the issue up.”

Using Apple Pay, the victim sent $1,196 to the phone number and associated Apple Pay account. After sending the payment, the person posing as the sheriff deputy told the victim there was an error, and she needed to send an additional $598. The victim sent the second payment, bringing the total to $1,794 transferred to the scammer.

After contacting the real Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office, deputies filed a search warrant on the phone number, discovering that it allegedly belonged to Lexi Johnson. Using geodata, a deputy discovered that the cell phone call “pinged” from a tower less than two miles from Johnson’s address.

Currently, prosecutors are working to issue a summons for Johnson to appear in Utah court.

The Salt Lake City Police Department shared the following advice to avoid scams similar to this:

• Never give out personal or financial information.
• Be wary of anyone cold-calling and asking you for a sudden payment of any type, including gift cards, cryptocurrency, and wire transfers, including Venmo, Apple Pay, and other similar forms of payment transfers.
• Avoid posting personal information on social media, which can be a goldmine of information for scammers.
• If you ever have questions about a call or message received from someone claiming to be a law enforcement employee, hang up, call dispatch, and advise the dispatcher about the incident.