Milwaukee men charged with scamming 74-year-old from Beloit

BELOIT — Two Milwaukee men are facing theft, impersonating an officer, false imprisonment and drug charges over an alleged elaborate scam of a 74-year-old Beloit man.

Jeremiah Tarver, 32, and Drevon Cobbins, 23, were charged Tuesday with impersonating a police officer, theft of more than $10,000, misdemeanor theft, obstructing an officer and possession of methamphetamine. Tarver is facing additional counts of false imprisonment, burglary, forgery and possession of cannabis and drug paraphernalia.

The victim alleges that he met Tarver at the Potawatomi Casino in Milwaukee two days before Memorial Day when Tarver told the victim he was a Milwaukee police officer. Tarver allegedly then asked the victim repeatedly for money, which he said was necessary to protect the victim from “the cartel.”

Over a period of five weeks, the victim said he gave Tarver and his “coworkers” more than $12,000 and his vehicle for Tarver to drive to and from Milwaukee. Both Cobbins and Tarver were taken into custody on June 21 after a credit union teller flagged a check written by Tarver but presented by the victim as possibly being a forgery.