5 are accused in Delco extortion plot

All Nicholas Iannello wanted was a cheap laptop.

Instead, the 20-year-old Delaware County resident got dragged into a fast-moving scam by a co-worker and four others who forced him to drive to a Philadelphia bank and withdraw $2,000 by threatening to kill him and his family, authorities announced yesterday.

Then, in an apparent attempt to make the transaction appear legitimate, the hustlers left an old computer with a busted keyboard in Iannello's car, according to Nether Providence police.

"I've never encountered anything like his before," said Detective Michael Erickson. "This was an elaborate scheme."

Police used surveillance footage from the Wachovia Bank on Island Avenue to help nab three of the alleged thieves: Jaime Alper, 31, and Jameka Verner, 22, both of Collingdale, and Anthony Shaw, 23, of Sharon Hill.

They are due in court next week to face charges of robbery, extortion and related offenses. A warrant has been issued for their alleged co-conspirators: Verner's brother, Anthony Miller, 33, of Collingdale, and Daniel Vincent, 27, of Springfield.

Iannello was pegged as a mark by Verner, who had worked with him at the Fair Acres Geriatric Center, according to the police report. She allegedly called him in October and said she knew someone who wanted to sell a computer.

But when he arrived at a gas station where they had agreed to meet, another defendant got into Iannello's car and told him to drive to the bank and withdraw the cash or "we'll shoot you and your family," the report states. In the bank parking lot, a third defendant arrived and walked him into the bank.

Erickson said that Verner even had the audacity to threaten Iannello's mother a week later in an attempt to extort more cash. That led the mother to call police. The suspects ultimately were identified with the help of neighboring police departments over the subsequent months.