CORAL SPRINGS, FLA. (WSVN) - A former investigator from the Broward Medical Examiner’s Office has been arrested and accused of stealing money from the bank account of a deceased individual. The daughter of the victim is now speaking out.
Darrell Reid, 39, whose responsibilities included responding to death investigation scenes to take possession of bodies, allegedly used Cash App to transfer $450 from the bank account of a man who had passed away in a Coral Springs apartment.
In October of last year, neighbors in Coral Springs noticed a foul smell coming from the apartment, which prompted police to break the door down. Officers then found the body of 75-year-old John Francis Colligan.
“So I got a call from Coral Springs Police that my dad was found gone, he’s dead,” said Colligan’s daughter, who wished to remain anonymous.
Detectives said they began their investigation after the deceased man’s daughter noticed suspicious charges on her father’s account.
Reid, on Oct. 21, came to the scene to take photos, collect the body, and examine and document IDs and credit or debit cards.
“He was professional, he was very empathetic,” Colligan’s daughter said.
Reid’s empathy would end there.
Colligan’s daughter noticed “three separate credit card transactions that were described as payments sent via Cash App to ‘Shanika Wright’ for $150 each.”
“My dad doesn’t use Cash App, I can’t even get him to use online banking,” she said.
Investigators said that on the same day Colligan’s body was found, “A Bank of America debit card was linked to Darrell Reid’s Cash App account added as a payment source.”
In total, officials said, Reid Cash Apped his girlfriend, Shanika Wright, $450 from Colligan’s credit card.
“It was heartbreaking just to find out that it could be done while my dad was dead on the floor. That part was hard to swallow,” Colligan’s daughter said.
This prompted a broader inquiry to determine if Reid engaged in similar activities in other cases.
After digging around his Cash App, police found another card added to his account in November.
That same day, the report detailed that “Reid was at the scene of the death of 11/06/23 at 10:36 a.m., an hour and a half before the debit card of the deceased was linked to Reid’s cash app account.”
Police found that since Reid created the cash app account in 2020, he’s added 27 separate payment sources in total.
“Was a measly $450 from a dead man worth it?” Colligan’s daughter said. “I always believe that justice will prevail.”
Colligan’s daughter is now pushing Cash App to add more security features to their app so another person doesn’t have to go through this.
Reid faces charges of fraudulently using the identity of a deceased person and fraudulent use of a credit card.
He has since been released on bond.
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