Three Arrested For Theft by Deception

News Release: From: Evansville Police Department The Evansville Police Department has been investigating several cases of theft by deception where individuals call and state that they are a neighbor from the area and they had met before. The caller would go on to say that his child was sick with a high fever and he needed money to get some medicine for the child. He would explain that his wallet was in his vehicle and his wife had the vehicle at work and he couldn’t get to it. He would then ask if he could borrow some money to get the medicine for the sick child and he would return the money the next day. Typically the caller would ask for an amount between fifteen dollars and eighteen dollars. If the person they called agreed to help, someone would come to the house to collect the money. The money would then never be repaid. Through the investigation it was determined that Robert Masterson, Phillip Brown and Aaron Conway were involved with these thefts. Phillip Brown and Aaron Conway are responsible for stealing several thousand dollars from one individual. Brown and Masterson are responsible for several hundred phone calls of this nature to citizens in the Evansville area. They were able to steal thousands of dollars from individuals by using this story. Phillip Brown was arrested today and is being charged with theft, a Class D felony and is also being charged as a habitual offender. Aaron Conway and Robert Masterson were already in jail on other arrests. Each will be charged with theft and Masterson will be charged with being a habitual offender. Anyone who has been a victim of theft by any of these three individuals is encouraged to call Detective Bryan Brown (436-7993) with the Evansville Police Department’s Financial Crimes Unit with the information. Individuals who have already called after seeing previous stories about Robert Masterson do not need to call again.