Scammer trying to collect phantom jury fines

A possible phone scam involving individuals attempting to collect failure-to-appear fines from unsuspecting residents has been reported to the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office Wednesday.

 About 9 a.m., a Casa Grande resident received a phone call from a man claiming to be with the PCSO. He told the resident she had failed to report for jury duty and a fine would be sent to her home. The caller then tries to garner credit card information to pay the “fine.”

PCSO deputies traced the number to a fax line in Jamaica.

According to the jury commissioner and clerk of the Superior Court, Chad Roche, “It is disheartening that there are criminals who will take every advantage to harm the public. This is particularly heinous because it impacts one of the highest calls to duty a citizen can answer and that is jury service.”

Norma Cruz, associate jury commissioner said, “In Pinal County you will receive a jury summons by mail to appear for the juror selection process. We select for all Superior Court trials, grand jury and all eight justice courts. You will not receive a phone call by a PCSO officer for failure to appear, so anyone purporting to be a PCSO officer collecting fines on our behalf is not a legitimate call.”

To verify that your name is in the current Jury pool, you can call the Jury Department directly at 520-866-5311. You may learn more about serving as a juror by going to www.pinalcountyaz.gov/COSC and clicking on the link at the left named Jury Information.