WARWICK, R.I. –An alleged con man who had scammed $1 million from various victims by claiming he was a real estate investor, a cancer survivor and a Boston Red Sox talent scout, was finally unmasked at his credit union, Greenwood CU, after his girlfriend realized he was trying to con her boss.
Police say Charles Pruenca, 38, is none of the things he claimed to be, but an unemployed grifter, renting a house on the west side of town and scamming friends and acquaintances.
Among those he conned was his fiancé, whom he told he was a Red Sox scout and could get great tickets to the American League playoffs.
Among the cons Pruenca was accused in court this week of taking part in was a fraudulent real estate scheme, collection towards a fictitious friend with a liver disease, and the sale of fraudulent season tickets to the Red Sox games, as well as two seats from historic Fenway Park.
But when his fiancé learned of his attempt to scam $435,268 from her former boss in a phony real estate deal, she demanded he repay the funds and brought him at his credit union, where he proceeded to write a $315,000 check on a closed account at Bank Rhode Island. A branch manager identified Pruenca from local media reports and called state police. An enraged fiancé stormed outside with Pruenca, then took his cell phone and left him at the credit union.
On Tuesday, Pruenca had some more explaining to do to the state judge, who charged him with three counts of obtaining money under false pretenses and one count of delivering a fraudulent check over $1,000.
