CEDAR CITY — A Florida man who allegedly defrauded an Enoch resident out of thousands of dollars in a suspected phone scam has been extradited to Utah to face felony charges.
Guerby Saint Cyr, 25, was booked into Iron County Jail on Tuesday evening by two Cedar City Police officers who had traveled to Palm Beach, Florida, to pick him up on an extradition warrant. He faces one count of theft by deception and one count of communications fraud, both of which are second-degree felonies.
According to the probable cause statement filed in support of Saint Cyr’s arrest, the charges stem from an incident that reportedly happened more than two years ago.
Saint Cyr allegedly called an elderly Enoch man in January 2019 and pretended to be his grandson, and during the call, he told the man he was incarcerated after having been involved in an accident and needed $15,655 in bail money wired to his “attorney,” who was actually Saint Cyr.
After the Enoch man went into his bank in Cedar City and authorized the transfer of funds, a manager at a Florida branch of the same bank reportedly became suspicious of the transaction and placed a hold on the account. However, the suspect managed to withdraw $6,000 before the account was frozen, the affidavit said.
The man was able to determine, with the help of bank officials and family members, that he’d been defrauded of his money.
The incident was reported to Cedar City Police in May 2019. The ensuing months-long investigation involved multiple law enforcement agencies and banking officials in both states. In December 2020, the official case information was filed in Iron County’s 5th District Court, after which a warrant was issued for Saint Cyr’s arrest.
Saint Cyr was arrested in Florida on Feb. 24 by officers with the fugitive warrants division of the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, according to a Facebook post made by the agency.
In 2019, Guerby Saint Cyr of Greenacres scammed a victim into believing his grandson was arrested and needed a wire…
Posted by PBSO – Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday, February 24, 2021
Saint Cyr, who is being held in Iron County Jail without bail, is scheduled to make his initial appearance in 5th District Court via videoconference on Thursday.
This report is based on information provided by law enforcement and may not contain the full scope of findings. Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.
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