ORLANDO, Fla. — State investigators say a prison inmate found a way to steal thousands from tourists. Damion Goldsmith was behind bars the whole time, but he's accused of robbing victims inside their hotel rooms.
The inmate's alleged accomplices were arrested Friday and agents have revealed more about how the guy reportedly convinced victims to give up credit cards.
Investigators said 40-year-old Damion Goldsmith would call hotels across the country, including at Disney, get the guests on the line and trick them into giving up their credit card numbers. It's a scheme that now has some of Goldsmith's suspected partners in crime behind bars.
"Were you guys ripping people off?" WFTV reporter asked 22-year-old Kendra Hodge.
"No, f*** you," she said as and her suspected partners in crime were headed to jail.
Friday, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) nabbed Hodge, 45-year-old Lavonda Goldsmith, 18-year-old Geneva Legrier, and 64-year-old Levell Jones. Friday afternoon, 48-year-old Edison Filer turned himself in.
Daimion Goldsmith 082010 Daimion Goldsmith Investigators say their ringleader, career criminal Damion Goldsmith, was orchestrating organized fraud over the phone from behind bars in state prison.
"He would request the co-defendants on a separate phone to call a specific hotel," an FDLE agent said.
The suspects on the outside would use speaker phones allowing Goldsmith to talk to hotels across the country, including high-end Disney resorts.
At some hotels, he tricked employees into giving up guest names and then tricked the guests into giving up credit card numbers.
"Mr. Jeremy, this is the front desk, um, our computers went down," one recorded call said.
The suspects would charge up the stolen cards and even use them to deposit money into accounts for other prison inmates. The Department of Corrections found out about it and asked FDLE to help. That's when they found the suspects allegedly had ripped off at least eight people for more than $10,000.
"The investigation continues. Could be more victims, more money," an FDLE agent said.
Several victims are foreign tourists. Each inmate call is limited to 15 minutes, but inmates can make as many calls as they want in the evening, as long as other inmates aren't waiting to use the line.
Goldsmith has quite a record. In a 22-year criminal history, he has been charged with 24 felonies and convicted 20 times. His latest stint in prison started 11 years ago and, already once during that time, he was caught in another fraud scheme.
Goldsmith was supposed to get out in 2015, but investigators say a conviction in the newest case would certainly add to his prison sentence.
WFTV
