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New Jersey man arrested in alleged voice-cloning scam that targeted Houston-area residents

Roman Guzman, 26, is being held in a New Jersey jail as he awaits extradition to Texas.

MIDDLESEX COUNTY, N.J. — A 26-year-old man accused of targeting multiple people in the Houston area in a voice-cloning scam has been arrested.

Records show Roman Guzman was arrested in Middlesex County, New Jersey, and is awaiting extradition to Harris County.

Guzman was charged with felony theft in April after prosecutors tracked him down by tracing money to a New Jersey bank account. During the scam, a man on the phone claimed to be a public defender named John Steinburg.

According to charging documents, Guzman used the same name in a number of scams across Tennessee, Utah, New Jersey, and Texas.

KHOU 11 News interviewed some of the victims in March, who reported a separate case. The couple, Fred and Kathy, said they were happy to hear someone was being held responsible for the scam.

"I was surprised to start with because I didn't expect that to happen," Fred said.

"I could have sworn I was talking to my son, we had a conversation," Kathy said.

They told us they were called by a man claiming to be a public defender named Steinburg. The person then put someone that sounded like their son on the line and asked for thousands of dollars to get out of jail.

They lost $5,000, but since then, we’ve talked to at least three other victims on the phone. Including the one in Guzman’s case who lost $40,000.

In October 2022, a Houston woman gave $20,000 cash to get her son out of jail. Then wired a second $20,000 payment, but found out none of it was true.

"It looks like they’ve done a little bit of research just based on what they’ve talked to the victims about over the phone," Officer Shane Krantz, with Houston Police's Swindle Squad, said.

Prosecutor Sheila Hansel works in the Consumer Fraud Division at the Harris County District Attorney's Office. She said they were aware of cases in other states.

"It's a script. It's exactly the same -- the actors involved, and there is a team. They all say the same things. It's the same story," Hansel said. "When you wire something, it leaves a very nice trail. It was kind of rewarding to put a face to the person who was taking the money out of the bank and have that person identified."

Hansel said scammers like this don't usually operate alone and that there are likely other suspects and victims.

"At least 15 (victims) that we know of, and then there’s more across the country as we dig into this specific case," Krantz said.

Krantz is the lead investigator on Guzman's case and said he's been working on similar scams reported across the City of Houston for the last year.

"We had surveillance footage of him pulling out the cash shortly after the time that deposit was made into his account," Krantz said.

The one thing all the victims have in common is they said the scammer claimed to be an attorney named John Steinburg and there was some made-up story about needing money to get each of their kids out of jail, and of course, a very urgent deadline.

Details, Krantz said, you should always pay attention to.

"I would just say be very wary of someone soliciting money -- whether you believe it’s your loved one or not," Krantz said.

He said they were able to track Guzman down because he had some of the funds wired to his bank account in New Jersey. Once they got his bank records, investigators found another victim in Tennessee.

Several states are now involved in the scam investigation, as well as the FBI.

Grace White on social media: Facebook | Twitter

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