Parnell looked so heroic giving that fifteen thousand dollars back to that poor little old lady. What a guy. Well, HE WAS WRONG. The County got its ass sued and then some because Parnell doesn’t read the law, care about the law, decides he’s the judge, the jury and the hero. He gets KWTX to film him and you’ve got another commercial for Parnell. This “news segment” was a campaign commercial for Parnell.
Why aren’t the commissioners and the County Judge a little angry here? Why aren’t we?
Please give this to people so they can see what is just foolishness for attention and just wrong on so many levels.
THINK. Don’t let them bullshit you anymore.
H
Wed, Oct 11 at 4:46 PM
Reader Rant!!!
I do feel for the victim. She went through a number of hoops probably in a panicked state, so I don’t think she is an idiot.
Sheriff McNamara, on the other hand, is an idiot. And it seems he’s going to cost the taxpayer money yet again. Why not seize an additional $15,000 from her bank, Sheriff?
Based on the suit from the ATM company (an exerpt below), it all started with a online recipe search. A few clicks later, and our victim was convinced her bank account was compromised.
Okay let’s go to the bank. Firing up the Buick, victim then travels to her bank.
Rather than asking about the status of her account, she proceeds to withdraw $15,000 and walks out! That’s before another currency, BTC, is even involved.
But of course, she then goes on to essentially mail that $15,000 to the scammer via the magical Bitcoin post-office drop off conversion ATM machine … a strange device that the Sheriff is determined to beat.
Quote:
The illegal seizure of Bitcoin Depot’s property.
According to MCSO Detective Dustin Losak’s search warrant affidavit, on April 27, 2023, an individual named Valsa Carlson was on her computer looking up cooking recipes when she received an email with a link to view a recipe. Carlson clicked on the recipe link, which purportedly activated a ransomware computer notice on her screen. Ms. Carlson then contacted a “customer support” number (presumably a number provided by the ransomware notification) and was connected with a “customer service representative,” who transferred her to a “fraud investigator.” After some discussion, the purported “fraud investigator” convinced Ms. Carlson that her banking information was compromised and that multiple unauthorized checks were being issued from her bank account. The “fraud investigator” convinced Ms. Carlson there was a way to prevent further loss from her bank account, and instructed her “to drive to her bank, make a $15,000 cash withdrawal and then proceed to 7500 Bosque Blvd and deposit the cash into the bitcoin machine at that location.”
Ms. Carlson then presumably went to her bank and rather than requesting a stop payment on the purportedly non-existent “check” withdrew $15,000, drove to the Sunoco gas station at 7500 Bosque Blvd., Waco, Texas 76712, and “deposited $15,000, $100 at a time” into the Bitcoin Depot ATM located inside. After bypassing all the warnings and notices highlighted in the preceding section, Ms. Carlson then directed Bitcoin Depot to convert her $15,000 cash into Bitcoin, which it did, by selling her 0.39574317 Bitcoin (BTC). In conjunction with this sale, she then directed Bitcoin Depot to send Bitcoin she purchased to a wallet of her choice, which it did (The wallet, presumably, was not controlled by Ms. Carlson, but by the self-described “fraud investigator.”). Thus, Ms. Carlson by her own account-understood that she was removing cash from her own bank account and converting it into Bitcoin (the exact transaction that the BTM facilitated), though she presumably did not know that she was dealing with a fraudster who intended to receive and keep the Bitcoin she purchased.
Bitcoin Depot’s business records (and the publicly verifiable Bitcoin blockchain, or “ledger”) confirm Ms. Carlson sent approximately $15,000 worth of Bitcoin (0.39574317 BTC) to BTC wallet address bc1q4ae5cz32tpgy5m3kq951sshf45yglvx76ghmte on April 27, 2023. Only days after sending the Bitcoin to a third-party wallet-which is expressly forbidden by Bitcoin Depot’s terms and conditions Ms. Carlson determined she had been scammed by the “fraud investigator.”
Based on the foregoing, on May 3, 2023, Detective Losak applied for and obtained a search warrant, purporting to authorize a search of the Bitcoin Depot ATM located at the Sunoco gas station at 7500 Bosque, Blvd., Waco, Texas. According to the warrant, Detective Losak was seeking “$15,000 in $100 bills in US Currency which was fraudulently appropriate [sic].” Importantly, the warrant only permitted the MCSO to seize the $15,000 “for evidentiary purposes[,]” not for return of stolen property, forfeiture, or restitution. Notably, Bitcoin Depot was not served with the search warrant before or at the time of execution it only received it after the seizure had already been executed.
On May 3, 2023, Bitcoin Depot received the search warrant at issue from its armored car service contractor.
The next day, on May 4, 2023 (around 10:58 a.m.), Joel Rimby, an in-house lawyer with Bitcoin Depot, called Detective Losak regarding the search warrant. As stated above, Detective Losak is also the law enforcement officer who completed the affidavit in support of the warrant used to seize the cash. During that call, Detective Losak informed Mr. Rimby that the warrant had already been executed and the cash had been seized. Mr. Rimby informed Detective Losak of Bitcoin Depot’s lawful claim to the $15,000 cash and requested information about how to seek the return of its property. Detective Losak declined to provide Mr. Rimby with an answer to that question and told him the Assistant District Attorney assigned to the case would need to answer those questions.
Bitcoin Depot shares the wallet address for those wanting a Friday afternoon on-chain rabbit hole.
