Web Exclusive
A Lynn woman is facing charges that she extorted money from people—including a Jamaica Plain resident—by falsely claiming that the victims’ relatives had been kidnapped.
Mary R. Lozada, 34, was arrested July 9 on charges of extortion, larceny and conspiracy, according to the Boston Police Department and the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office. She was held on $5,000 bail.
In the JP case, the victim received a phone call on June 8 from a Spanish-speaking man who claimed to have kidnapped a relative and demanded ransom money. The victim wired the money, but later learned that the relative was not kidnapped.
Lozada is charged in that incident and in a similar case on June 9 in Roxbury. BPD and other police agencies continue to investigate those cases, as well as several similar cases that have largely targeted Hispanic victims.
Anyone with information about the false kidnapping incidents can contact BPD at 1-800-494-8477 or by texting the word “TIP” to 27463.
From a press release.