Deputies: Michigan woman used Google image to scam DeBary man in sale of John Deere tractor

A Michigan woman was brought to the Volusia County Branch Jail on accusations she used a Google photo of a garage with a John Deere tractor in the lot to fraudulently sell the machine on social media to a DeBary man, Volusia County sheriff's investigators said.

Demetria Monik Latimer, 59, of Warren, Michigan, was booked into the jail Tuesday and remained their Wednesday on charges of organized scheme to defraud involving more than $50,000 and grand theft over $20,000. She was being held on $25,000 bail.

A Volusia County Sheriff's Office Facebook post shows Latimer arriving at an airport and met by Sheriff Mike Chitwood before she was taken to Jail.

According to investigating deputies, a DeBary man called in December to report that he had been scammed into buying a John Deere tractor he saw on sale on Facebook Marketplace.

The victim said he wired $52,000 in three installments to a Matt Pickins and Charlie Larson of Menard Holdings, LLC, the company that advertised the John Deere. After he wired the last installment, the DeBary man could not get in contact with them and realized he had been scammed, according to an arrest report.

A sheriff's office investigator looking into the case discovered that the address given on Facebook Marketplace for the tractor was simply a large garage with a tractor in the dirt lot, the report states.

"The scammer chose this location due to the John Deere tractor visible on Google images," the investigator wrote in the report.

The same group apparently had a similar scamming scheme in Menard County, Texas, where they used a historical military barn and its location at Fort McKavett to scam victims, investigators said.

The Volusia County sheriff's office investigator then checked telephone numbers and Bank of America accounts that led to Latimer, the report said.

Reached by telephone, Latimer initially said the Bank of America account was created by a company she worked for but then said she could not talk because she was in a store. She never got back to investigators, the report shows.

Volusia County investigators then got in contact with the Warren Police Department. A detective from that agency interviewed Latimer. The woman said she worked for Khadim Real Estate, and an employer asked her to open an account in her name, the report states.

Investigators said Khadim Real Estate was a scam company, possibly located in Dubai.

Latimer said money was deposited to her account, which she then transferred into other accounts, sheriff's deputies said.

"Due to the facts and circumstances presented in this investigation, Detective Hinkson determined probable cause exists to believe Demetria Latimer has a key role in laundering funds scammed from (the DeBary victim) and other possible victims across the United States," investigators wrote in the report.