SEYMOUR — Seymour detectives traced a bank account to a Maryland-based limited liability company which eventually led them to a suspect accused of swindling money from the town in a cyberscam.
The information comes from an arrest warrant affidavit used by police to lodge first-degree larceny charges against 48-year-old Charles Ukasanya of Gaithersburg, Maryland.
In a press release issued Wednesday, Seymour Police Chief John Bucherati noted the investigation is not closed. Police did not mention whether more arrests are expected.
Earlier this year police and town officials acknowledged the town had been bilked out of $375,000.
The arrest warrant application — authored by Detective Patrick Dempsey — sheds some light as to how police believe the crime happened, and how authorities zeroed in on a suspect.
An arrest warrant is an instrument used by police to convince a judge there is probable cause to make an arrest. Police don’t put all the information they have into a warrant. It is often the start of a court case, not the end.
According to the warrant, an accounts payable person at the Seymour Board of Education had her email compromised over the summer. The warrant does not detail precisely how that happened.
The cyber security breach allowed a person or persons to create fraudulent requests for money wire transfers — essentially sending emails from the employee’s email.
The fake requests were written in the same Word document format that legit requests use, the warrant notes, and looked like they originated from the BOE employee.
A fake request dated Aug. 14, 2022 asked for a $143,157.74 transfer to the teachers retirement board — and that the transfer needed to happen by Aug. 22. The money was transferred Aug. 19.
The warrant notes that neither the school board finance department nor the town’s finance department caught the fact the transfers contained unusual “ABA” numbers, or routing numbers.
In addition, the warrant states the school business director told police the town’s finance director had the authority to make wire transfers without a second person present or a second person authorizing the transaction.
The warrant notes the school district’s finance office didn’t look closely at an email because wire transfers were under the town’s jurisdiction.
Those details are not included in the warrant to assign blame — they are details the detective listed in developing a suspect.
Detectives, after issuing a search warrant to the Bank of America, were able to trace a bank account registered to Geneva LLC in Maryland. A deposit of $50,000 was made into that account on Aug. 23 from Seymour.
Police said only one person was the authorized user for the Geneva LLC account — Ukasanya.
Once Ukasanya was considered a suspect, detectives worked with the Bank of America to review surveillance data from ATM machines at several locations in Maryland. Video footage allegedly showed Ukasanya taking money out of the account containing the stolen Seymour funds.
Detectives were able to match clothes from photos on Ukasanya’s social media to clothes he wore at the ATMs. Police also connected Ukasanya to a vehicle seen in the ATM surveillance video. Police also matched Ukasanya’s home address with the one provided by the limited liability company accessing the bank account.
Police are working to extradite Ukasanya from Maryland to Connecticut, where he faces the larceny charge.
In a prepared statement posted to social media on Wednesday, First Selectwoman Annmarie Drugonis provided an additional detail on the cyberscam, indicating the BOE employee who initially fell victim to the phishing email had her account completely compromised.
“The town did reach out to the Central Office employee in question to verify the request; however, the bad actors had set up the email box so that any emails concerning the transfer would not reach the intended recipient,” Drugonis said.
Town and school officials are both victims and witnesses in this case. Residents on social media have questioned whether any employees could face disciplinary action.
” … the Town cannot discuss employee discipline until the employees involved have been provided their due process. Information will be released when it is possible to do so,” Drugonis said.
On Jan. 24 The Valley Indy reported that the town is confident at least half the stolen money will be recouped. Chief Bucherati said the Bank of America had flagged a $182,000 suspicious transaction and set that money aside. The chief said the town is in the process of getting that money back.
Drugonis said the town is also working with its insurance company on the loss.
