New Jersey’s Monroe TWP.According to authorities, a 35-year-old Jersey City man was detained and charged with several crimes after he allegedly pretended to be a federal law enforcement official in order to extort tens of thousands of dollars from a woman in Monroe Township.
Monroe Police Chief Griffin Banos and Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone said the suspect, Hrushikesh Sankhe, called a 69-year-old lady on June 13 and said she was being investigated for a drug-related shipment that was captured at the Texas-Mexico border.
To keep her from being arrested, the impostor requested $60,000 in cash. The victim cooperated and personally gave the money. Later, investigators discovered that Sankhe was still requesting more money, specifically an additional $50,000.
During a second extortion attempt, the suspect was arrested.
Sankhe went back to Monroe Township to pick up the second payment on June 26. Members of Monroe Township Police and the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office found him inside his car and took him into custody.
Second-degree theft by extortion, second-degree impersonation, second-degree conspiracy to finance facilitate criminal activity, and fourth-degree impersonation of a law enforcement official are among the charges against Sankhe.
Authorities are asking anyone with information to call Detective Zachary Olesinski at 732-745-4454 as the investigation is still underway.
