Police Detective: Local Ripoff Extends Well Beyond Louisville

LOUISVILLE, Ohio (News Talk 1480 WHBC) – Why did it take a Louisville police detective to crack what appears to be a ripoff scheme that may have cost victims in several states over a million dollars?

He says persistence and lots of legwork.

Detective Zach Clark said he kept working the case of an elderly couple who lost $5500 in August to a phony bail bondsman who came to their door.

Clark says he used surveillance footage to identify the vehicle involved, and that eventually led to Old Bridge Township in New Jersey and 50-year-old Mikhail Vygodner.

Vygodner is charged with ‘theft from a person in a protected class’ and remains in the Stark County jail on $200,000 bond.

Clark says Vygodner told the couple they needed to fork over the cash to get their son out of jail.