SPRING HILL, Tenn. (WKRN) -- Earlier this month, the Spring Hill Police Department (SHPD) arrested four men accused of traveling around the country and defrauding people by stealing their financial information and emptying their bank accounts.
On Dec. 2, members of SHPD were working undercover details in the primary shopping areas. Officers typically look for crimes like shoplifting and vehicle burglaries in parking lots during the holiday season, but on that day, law enforcement spotted a dark-colored SUV driving oddly and moving from parking spot to parking spot. Then, when the vehicle dropped a man in a suit 100 yards from the bank instead of parking directly in front of it, authorities knew something was awry.
Body camera footage of the incident shows officers talking to the four suspects.
The man who went into the bank was identified as 55-year-old Joseph Stanley Selobyt Jr. of South Carolina. He was dressed in a three-piece suit, but police found multiple crack pipes in his pockets.
Officials said Selobyt was going into banks and using fake IDs to withdraw other people's money.
SHPD showed News 2 a sheet of IDs seized in the bust. There were licenses from more than half a dozen states -- including Indiana, Wisconsin, Florida, Pennsylvania, Delaware, California, New Jersey, and Maryland -- with Selobyt's face but other names and information.
(Courtesy: SHPD)
"They try to see how much money is in the account and then they will draw money from the account," SHPD Lt. Mike Foster said.
Investigators said the 55-year-old was traveling with three men: 24-year-old Dauda Fadiga, 29-year-old Souleymame Bah, and 22-year-old Mamadou Diallo.
The men all had IDs from New York. However, according to police, two of them were from Ghana, including one who was here illegally and one who was here on a work visa.
"You just try to open up cards in other people's names?" a detective said to Selobyt. "You do it because you're the one they dress you nice, right?"
When asked why they were in Spring Hill, the men talked about gas stations and Jesus.
"Why would you drive down here for a gas station is what I'm getting at," the officer said. "We don't really get much tourism in Spring Hill, Tennessee."
"We trying to just explore the United States of America, the Bible State, trying to get closer to Jesus," Fadiga replied.
"But what brought y'all to Spring Hill, I guess, is what we're wondering. Like, there's nothing to do here," the officer responded.
One of the suspects said they were looking for a gas station, but the Spring Hill officer pointed out there are lots of gas stations in Nashville.
"Then they drive down here from Nashville for gas? We're not stupid," the officer said.
SHPD told News 2 that not only is this investigation still very active, but now the New York City Police Department (NYPD) and the Department of Homeland Security are also involved.
According to investigators, the men have allegedly stolen the personal information of more than a dozen people who may not even know they're victims.