Local Delivery Driver Charged With Felony

For the last several years, Union County, as well as many jurisdictions across the country, have seen a rise in scams and transaction card fraud. Sheriff Shawn Dyer has made cracking down on these types of crimes a top priority as it continues to plague our county. Although most of the time these types of crimes occur via phone or internet scams by people living in another country, sometimes this type of fraud happens in person. That was the case in early April at Union County Fire Station #1.

The Fire Department reported fraudulent charges on a county credit card that they had not authorized. Sgt. Bob Calamari, Financial Crimes Investigator for the Union County Sheriff’s Office, jumped on the case. He began following up on the fraudulent charges and quickly tracked down a suspect, Darius Harris, a local FedEx driver. During his investigation, Sgt. Calamari was able to track Harris’ fraudulent use of the card. Harris was brought in for questioning and ultimately confessed to utilizing the card. Sgt. Calamari was able to determine that Darius was in the process of picking up a package from Union County Fire Station #1. The employee at the fire station left the front office to go and retrieve the package for shipping. Darius quickly noted a credit card that was left on the employee’s desk and took note of the number. He subsequently began making charges utilizing County money.

Sgt. Calamari’s quick actions had Darius in custody and fraudulent charges were reversed back where the County saw no adverse action.

Darius Harris was charged with Financial Transaction Card Theft, a felony. He has since placed a $10,000 bond and was released into the custody of the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office to answer to other fraud related charges there.

If you believe you have been a victim of a scam or financial theft, please contact the Sheriff’s Office immediately. If you receive a phone call from someone claiming to be law enforcement or another entity who begins asking for personal information or for you to send money to prevent some sort of adverse action against you, immediately hang up (over their objections) and contact the Sheriff’s Office for confirmation. If something strange pops up on your computer, do not click on any links, and if all else fails, power the computer down. The Sheriff’s Office takes these kinds of crimes seriously, and we will do what we can to track these people down and bring them to justice.