Kosciusko County police are investigating the death of a Warsaw man who was hit by a Jeep after his moped crashed west of Pierceton. The county crash investigation team said Brandon D.A Florida man is in jail on drug charges, accused of scamming a northeast Indiana woman over a time-share property.
Officers from the Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department and Florida law enforcement agencies raided the home of Derick Cordero, 32, on Thursday, the sheriff’s department said in a written statement issued Tuesday.
It said that police were watching Cordero’s house after the northeast Indiana department contacted the Florida Department of Law Enforcement about a Nappanee-area woman who reported that she paid more than $4,000 in fraudulent closing fees for a time-share property in Kissimmee, Fla.
The sheriff’s department said the payment went to a mailbox in Beverly Hills, Calif., and then was forwarded to Orlando, where subpoenaed records revealed Cordero's signature on the cashed check.
Undercover officers reported that Cordero sold drugs out of his home during the surveillance, so about 30 officers raided his home Thursday afternoon. About $30,000 in pre-packaged marijuana was found, the sheriff’s department said, and Cordero was preliminarily charged in Orange County with felony possession of cannabis with intent to sell or deliver.
The Orange County Sheriff's Office Cyber Crimes Unit also seized documents, computers and cellular devices owned by Cordero for further analysis, the northeast Indiana department said.
Cordero has an active felony warrant for theft/fraud issued out of Kosciusko County. His bond was set at $10,000. Cordero remains in custody in Florida.
