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Police: Woman patsy in weapons smuggling
RIPON
A Wisconsin woman trying to earn money from home became a patsy in a scheme to send military equipment to Russia, police said.
The woman tapped into a Web site and thought she had been chosen for a job shipping clothing to Russian orphans, ABC News reported, but instead unwittingly ended up in the center of an international weapons smuggling ring.
The weapons included stolen sniper scopes, night-vision goggles and other military gear, financed with stolen credit cards.
Police were alerted June 7 when an Iowa firearms dealer became suspicious about a discrepancy between the billing address and shipping address on a $1,600 rifle scope, ABC said. The dealer determined the scope had been purchased with a stolen credit card, then called police.
Capt. Bill Wallner of the Ripon (Wis.) Police Department told ABC News.com: "A package being sent from a private citizen in Wisconsin might not get searched. That's why they were using her. They were paying her to change the packaging and address labels."
Police are now working with the FBI on the case, the report said. Officials declined to identify the 44-year-old Ripon woman.
RIPON
A Wisconsin woman trying to earn money from home became a patsy in a scheme to send military equipment to Russia, police said.
The woman tapped into a Web site and thought she had been chosen for a job shipping clothing to Russian orphans, ABC News reported, but instead unwittingly ended up in the center of an international weapons smuggling ring.
The weapons included stolen sniper scopes, night-vision goggles and other military gear, financed with stolen credit cards.
Police were alerted June 7 when an Iowa firearms dealer became suspicious about a discrepancy between the billing address and shipping address on a $1,600 rifle scope, ABC said. The dealer determined the scope had been purchased with a stolen credit card, then called police.
Capt. Bill Wallner of the Ripon (Wis.) Police Department told ABC News.com: "A package being sent from a private citizen in Wisconsin might not get searched. That's why they were using her. They were paying her to change the packaging and address labels."
Police are now working with the FBI on the case, the report said. Officials declined to identify the 44-year-old Ripon woman.
