Ready for a crazy, Florida woman (probably redundant to say that) story that somewhat ties in with the country music world? As you likely already know, there’s always interesting things happening in the “Sunshine State.” Whether it be Florida men fist-fighting alligators, or Florida women getting tied up in a conspiracies, there’s rarely ever a dull moment in Florida. And this story out of northeast Florida (near Daytona Beach) is no exception. The Flagler County Sheriff’s office, along with the DeFuniak Springs Police Department, worked through a two-year investigation that was focused on and around fraudulent sales of property within Flagler County. It all started in January of 2024, when a woman contacted the police because she was having trouble paying her property taxes. Why? Because unbeknownst to her, the property she owned was sold to another party, and was actually in someone else’s name. Detectives got on the case and soon found that there were other similar cases, including a vacant lot that was sold without the owner’s knowledge. That was reported to the authorities in April of the same year. The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office shared in a post that they were able to track down the seller of that property thanks to identification that was connected to one of the transactions: “Records from the sale of the property in the S-Section listed the victim as the seller; however, detectives determined the photo on the driver’s license provided in the transaction was not that of the victim but rather that of Cheryl Annette Jefferson, 63, of Bartow, Florida. Further investigation revealed that wire transfers from the sale of both properties were deposited into a bank account Jefferson opened in December 2022. Since the account’s inception, Jefferson also wrote several checks to other individuals along with checks to herself that she deposited into a separate bank account in her name.” Authorities also discovered that Jefferson was wiring money through her Coinbase account, exchanging for cryptocurrency. Then that crypto was transferred to two different accounts… and each were owned by Nigerian men. So the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office had a name… now they just needed to track her down, and find her motive. While looking into Jefferson, they actually came across four other cases that were connected to the Florida woman (two in Florida, one in Colorado and another in Georgia). Soon after, deposits totaling over $400,000 to a bank account associated with Jefferson matched up with properties solid in all four of the fraudulent sales in Florida. When the police arrested Jefferson, she informed them that she was under the impression that she was making these transactions on behalf of…. country music stars. She had met someone at a concert whom she believed to be Brian Kelley from Florida Georgia Line, and was helping him – and Chase Rice – through these property sales to help fund a construction project in Nashville: “Jefferson told detectives she had opened the bank account for a friend — whom she believed to be Brian Kelley, a band member of Florida Georgia Line — and another individual, whom ‘Brian’ had introduced her to. Jefferson also stated that she thought the funds were for the construction of a recording studio in Nashville, Tennessee. The Polk County Sheriff’s Office assisted detectives with obtaining a search warrant for Jefferson’s cellphone. A review of that cellphone revealed text messages between Jefferson and another individual, Chase Rice, which is the name of another famous country music singer and songwriter. Detectives have determined these text messages show Jefferson’s continued participation in receiving money and moving it to cryptocurrency.” Yeah… I’m sure country music stars go around and ask random strangers to help them build recording studios all the time. It certainly sounds like she was scammed by some Nigerian dudes who were pretending to be Florida Georgia Line and Chase Rice, and in some ways, is a victim of fraud herself. But instead of sending thousands of dollars in Amazon gift cards to Nigeria, she was selling other people’s houses and sending the money… quite the wild situation. Jefferson was arrested after Flagler County put out a warrant for organized scheme to defraud (over $50,000). She was transported to the Walton County Jail, and was later released on $100,000 bond. Sheriff Rick Staly shared this hilarious statement on behalf of the Flagler County Sheriff’s office following Jefferson’s arrest: “Crime knows no borders, and it doesn’t stop at the Florida Georgia Line. This criminal may claim she has some high-profile friends, but I don’t see her friends getting her out of the jam she’s put herself in.” Phenomenal pun. Well done Sheriff Staly and the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office. And to anyone out there who thinks that a country star like Chase Rice or a (former) country group like Florida Georgia Line might ask them to help sell property… don’t fall for it. People like that are never going to ask regular, everyday people for help with money.The post Florida Woman Arrested For Property Fraud Was Seemingly Scammed Into Thinking She Was Working For Florida Georgia Line & Chase Rice first appeared on Whiskey Riff.