Police: Scam netted couple $230K from Philadelphia man, 86

Police have arrested a man and woman on charges of bilking an 86-year-old Philadelphia man out of an estimated $230,000.

Crystal Pinky Johns, 23, and her alleged accomplice, Patrick Stanley, were arrested Friday in Bergen County, N.J., on charges of theft.

Police said Johns befriended the Philadelphia man in December 2008 as he was walking to church near his home in the city's Washington Square area. The two began going out for lunch and occasionally to the theater, Philadelphia Police Lt. Ray Evers said.

Several weeks later, they were at lunch when Johns became upset and told the man she needed money for an expensive heart operation, police said.

Between January 2009 and March 2010, police said, the man gave Johns checks totaling about $230,000, with the understanding that she would eventually repay him.

"She kept asking for money, and he kept giving it," Evers said.

The man's family learned of the payments and notified police. Johns and Stanley, who police said sometimes posed as a doctor as part of the scheme, were identified as being wanted in Texas on theft charges. In that scam, they are accused of taking about $420,000, police said.

The two will be extradited to Philadelphia to be held on charges stemming from both cases.