An Eagle County man called police Wednesday after receiving text messages from an alleged assassin demanding $15,000 to spare his life.
The sender claimed to have been hired to kill the man and would do it unless the money was wired to a specific account. Instead, the man called the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office and deputies traced the text messages to a Google voice account and a bank account under the name of Paula Mandez from Ohio.
Jessie Mosher, a spokeswoman for the Eagle County Sheriff’s department, said investigators could not verify that Mandez was a real person and they are aware of at least one other similar scam in another county.
Mosher said investigators do not have any idea of whether the victim in Eagle County was targeted for a particular reason.
“This could pop up anywhere,” Mosher said.
Anyone who may have any information about the suspect or this incident is asked to call the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office at 970-328-8500 or Eagle County Crime Stoppers at 970-328-7007. Tips leading to an arrest and indictment of any suspect involved could earn up to $1,000.
Yesenia Robles: 303-954-1372, yrobles@denverpost.com or @yeseniarobles
