Crime & Safety
SOS Swindler Locked Up For Bilking Man With Suspended License: Cops
The Berwyn man posed as an employee of the Illinois Secretary of State and scammed a suspended driver out of $675, police said.
JOLIET, IL — A Berwyn man was locked up in the Will County jail for allegedly running a Secretary of State scam and bilking a suspended driver out of $675.
Hugo Torres was booked late Tuesday on a single count of felony theft in connection with his alleged SOS swindle.
According to a criminal complaint on file in Will County court, Torres informed a man identified as Giuseppe Borracci that he worked for the secretary of state and claimed he “would correct the driver’s license suspension of James Campbell in exchange for $675.”
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No further information was provided for either Borracci or Campbell.
Torres “did solicit funds from Giuseppe Borracci on behalf of James Campbell,” the complaint said, even though he “knew that he was not an employee with the Illinois Secretary of State, and that he was not authorized to alter driver’s license abstracts … ”
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The secretary of state police investigated Torres and obtained the warrant for his arrest.
Torres bond was previously set at $50,000. He was scheduled to appear in court this morning.
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