Riverbank Police Services handled several calls this past week including a strong arm robbery and a fraud case all the way from Florida.

Authorities said a strong arm robbery occurred at O’Brien’s Market on June 5 involving two white males that attempted to steal wine. Authorities advised that one employee suffered a hand injury while trying to detain one of the subjects and another employee pursued the fleeing suspect. There was one bottle of wine recovered and no arrests were made.

A grand theft case later that day on Southgate Drive was reported to Riverbank Police Services. According to authorities, the reporting party saw an ad for a residence available for rent in Florida and contacted “Tim” for more information. After several discussions and a passport photo of “Tim” to verify his identity, she sent funds for deposit on the property. “Tim” called her to inform her that there was another interested party and requested that more money be sent to ensure the residence would be hers. At that time, the reporting party realized this could be a scam and searched the residence address and discovered the house is for sale and the owner, “Tim” who was pictured was not the same person as the person pictured on the passport. She then contacted “Tim” who agreed to return the money to her. Currently she has not received any refund and the phone numbers used to reach “Tim” are no longer in service.

Detectives are continuing to investigate this case.