On 6/9/14, Deputies received information that an unknown suspect, later identified as Scott Angelo, used an elaborate scam to solicit a teenage female to send him provocative photographs through text message. In the scam Angelo text messaged the teen and posed as a relative and claimed that he had recently changed his cell phone number. Angelo then informed the teen that his co-worker’s daughter had a swim suit line and asked if she was interested in modeling for the fictitious company. Angelo would then give the teen another contact number of the fictitious swim suit company representative who was in actuality still Angelo. Angelo then directed the teen to take provocative photos send them to him.
After an in depth investigation, Santa Cruz and Santa Clara County Deputies linked Angelo to four additional cases in Santa Cruz County and one in each Indiana and Maryland. Deputies arrested Angelo at his Sunnyvale home and seized at least 50 pictures solicited by Angelo of Santa Cruz County victims.
Deputy Ryan Kennedy warns: “We have to remind everyone out there, please don’t respond to electronic requests for anything that should remain private, there are just too many scams out there to take advantage of people and some of these guys are really sophisticated”
The Sheriff’s Office believes that additional victims may exist in our community and is asking that anyone with information regarding this investigation to contact Detective Skalland at (831)454-7622.