Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
- A Florida man, Cody Rayner, is accused of defrauding a southern Utah woman.
- Rayner allegedly convinced her to transfer over $60,000 to a new banking account.
- The account was linked to Rayner's Florida business, police say; his location is unknown.
WASHINGTON, Washington County — A Florida man was charged Wednesday with defrauding a southern Utah woman out of more than $60,000.
Cody Robert Rayner, 31, whose last known address was in Bradenton, Florida, is charged in 5th District Court with communications fraud and unlawful computer access, second-degree felonies.
A Washington woman was contacted in December by someone claiming to be from the Wells Fargo fraud department. The man told the woman that "her accounts had been compromised and they were now frozen. The suspect stated he opened a new account for her to transfer all of her money to and convinced her that she needed to move all of her money from her accounts to this new account, which he claimed was made for her, in order to protect her money," according to an arrest warrant affidavit issued Wednesday.
The woman got a cashier's check for $50,000, which she deposited into the new account with an additional $11,200 in cash. Rayner's name was on the cashier's check, the affidavit states.
After police were contacted, investigators served a subpoena on the new bank account and learned it was linked to a landscaping business in Florida owned by Rayner, according to the affidavit.
A second subpoena was then issued for additional bank records.
"Through this second subpoena, I was able to determine through the bank records that Cody Rayner had withdrawn the majority of the fraudulently deposited funds and had made online transfers to other accounts bearing the name Cody Rayner. I was also able to identify Cody Rayner through photographs and images from the ATM machines that he used to withdraw funds from the account," the affidavit alleges.
Furthermore, investigators found a 2021 news article from Florida in which Rayner was listed as one of 13 people arrested during an undercover drug sting.
"It is evident that Cody Rayner uses various methods of trying to hide his identity to deceive victims and to avoid apprehension. Cody Rayner's current whereabouts are unknown and he is suspected to be in the state of Florida," according to the affidavit.
