The St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office has temporarily shut down its online inmate directory in response to scammers posing as bail bondsmen and bilking families for money.
The department said a growing number of fraudsters exploit the system to identify inmates — sometimes through booking photos — and then contact their relatives.
They offer to secure their loved one’s release in exchange for payment.
Sheriff Robert Hardwick addressed the issue last week on 904 Now.
“They call them way ahead of the bondsmen and start posing as fake bondsman,” he said. “It sounds so legit. The scams are killing us.”
In one instance, a suspect called the distraught mother of a recently arrested male and said he could arrange his release and entry into a rehabilitation program for $750.
The parent sent the money, and later realized she had been duped.
The department linked a single scammer to four cases involving St. Johns County inmates and another seven across Florida, North Carolina and Tennessee.
SJSO probed the case and ultimately identified the culprit — a prisoner in an Alabama prison.
The department has now taken the directory offline, saying they will relaunch it shortly with enhanced security measures to scuttle swindlers.
The mugshot release process is also being examined and will likely be overhauled statewide.
Inmates, Hardwick said, are already paying the price for their crimes behind bars, and should not be subject to criminality and online ridicule while incarcerated.
“We’ve got to get a better grasp on this,” he said, noting that many inmates are struggling with addiction and feeding their habits through minor offenses.
