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FLORENCE, Ariz. – The Pinal County Sheriff’s Office would like to alert county residents of a possible phone scam involving individuals posing as law enforcement officers.
At approximately 9:00 a.m. a citizen living in Casa Grande received a phone call from a man claiming to be a deputy with the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office.
The caller informed the woman that she had failed to report for jury duty and a fine was issued.
The woman indicated she didn’t remember receiving a summons to report for jury duty.
The woman’s husband joined the conversation and asked the caller to identify himself by name and badge number.
At that point the caller hung up and did not call again. The couple contact PCSO to report the incident and deputies traced the number provided to a fax number in Jamaica; a common practice used in other phone scams designed to extort money from unsuspecting victims.
“We work tirelessly each day to preserve the public trust given to law enforcement by the citizens we’re sworn to protect,” Sheriff Paul Babeu said. “When someone poses as a law enforcement officer in an attempt to commit a criminal act, all of us are taken back. Don’t become a victim. As a citizen, ask questions and insist the officer identifies himself/herself as required by law, just as these residents did.”
According to the Jury Commissioner and Clerk of the Superior Court, Chad Roche, “It is disheartening that there are criminals who will take every advantage to harm the public. This is particularly heinous because it impacts one of the highest calls to duty a citizen can answer and that is Jury Service. Equal access to justice and providing qualified Jurors to the Judiciary is something that we at the COSC take very seriously. If you receive a call requesting your credit card information to pay a fine for Failure to Appear, alert the proper authorities immediately.”
Norma Cruz, Associate Jury Commissioner stated that, “In Pinal County you will receive a Jury Summons by mail to appear for the Juror selection process. We select for all Superior Court trials, Grand Jury and all eight Justice Courts. You will not receive a phone call by a PCSO officer for Failure to Appear, so anyone purporting to be a PCSO Officer collecting fines on our behalf is not a legitimate call.”
To verify that you name is in the current Jury pool, you can call the Jury Department directly at 520‐866‐5311.
You may learn more about serving as a Juror here:
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