Dallas County Police have charged 38-year-old Grand Prairie resident Joanne Vazquez with suspicion of stealing about $570,000 worth of bitcoins.
In January 2021, Joann Vasquez became an accomplice in a robbery of a private home, according to a law enforcement statement. During the investigation, it turned out that among the missing items was a safe with passwords to wallets that stored BTC in the amount of about $ 570,000.
Vazquez’s accomplice, Michael Jason Neria, was arrested back in March. During the investigation, he confessed to the robbery and told detectives that he gave Vasquez a safe that stored account data and passwords for cryptocurrency wallets.
Documents accompanying Vazquez’s arrest indicated that technical surveillance recorded how she repeatedly used her driver’s license to confirm withdrawals from crypto ATMs after the theft.
As part of an investigative experiment, Neria, who was in custody, called Vasquez and asked to transfer part of the funds from the wallets to his account, and soon the funds arrived. Investigators said they believe Vasquez owns the accounts and has access to the remainder of the bitcoins.
Recently, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) announced the creation of a special unit, whose tasks will include combating money laundering, as well as monitoring suspicious cryptocurrency transactions.
Source: Bits
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