According to the Dakota County Sheriff’s office, in the past week, deputies have responded to several calls from citizens reporting that they received suspicious phone calls. The subject tells the citizen he is Sergeant Pederson with the Dakota County Sheriff’s Office. He says that Judge Matt Wayne signed warrants for his arrest unless they pay $1,000 dollars or more. The citizen is then instructed to go to a store and purchase a money card. In many cases,the caller attempted to convince them to stay on the phone during the transaction because the citizen may be pulled over and arrested and they are the only one who could help them. Some of the information seems credible, there is a Sergeant Pederson associated with Dakota County, but there is not a Judge named Matt Wayne, he is a a Detective. Dakota County will never make a call of this nature, nor request payment in the form of money cards or gift cards. If you have received a call like this and provided information or payment to someone over the phone, please call the Dakota County Sheriff’s office.
