Women charged in 'pigeon drop' scam

St. Charles police arrested two women accused of taking money from a 70-year-old St. Charles woman in a "pigeon drop" scam, police said Tuesday.

Linda M. Gokey, 57, of 6111 Kit Carson Drive, Hanover Park and Connie Kay Pausche, 50, of 2461 Wyeth Drive, West Chicago were each charged with one count of felony theft.

Police say Gokey and Pausche confronted a woman in the Butera store parking lot, 2752 E. Main Street, on November 12, claiming they found a bag containing $100,000 in the parking lot and asked the woman if it was hers. The woman said no, however she agreed to let the women drive her to a nearby bank after Gokey and Pausche offered to split the money with her three ways, police said.

Police said Gokey and Pausche told the woman they had a friend who was an attorney and who worked at the bank, and said the friend said they could keep the money but it would have to be processed, police said.

The victim was driven to her house and provided $2,100 to Gokey and Pausche for the processing fee, police said.

The women drove the victim back to the bank, got out of the car and went inside the bank, police said. When they didn't return, the victim went inside the bank and found that Gokey and Pausche were not there, police said.

Gokey was arrested on Jan. 15 and released on $2,500 cash bond with a court date of January 22 at the Kane County Judicial Center, police said. Pausche was charged on January 18, bonded out and was given a court dated of January 27, police said.