A Trafford man is accused of extorting money from his elderly Murrysville uncle.

Joseph Calisti, 40, is accused of defrauding the man of more than $10,000 in purported legal fees in a scheme authorities say involved a bogus claim the uncle’s properties were under investigation by state environmental officials.

Investigators say Calisti created the impression that a probe was underway concerning properties in Murrysville and Clinton County by impersonating a representative of the state Department of Environmental Protection in an email to his 75-year-old uncle.

Another email to the victim was allegedly from a person identifying themselves as a senior fraud investigator from an unknown agency requesting records of deeds, trusts, tax returns, stocks and bonds that were cashed in over the last 10 years.

According to a complaint filed by Murrysville police, Calisti had his uncle make a series of payments, claiming they were to cover legal fees in the environmental case. But investigators determined there was no such case, and Calisti deposited the money in his personal account.

The victim reported to police that Calisti was on the land trust for a 200-acre property in Clinton County that he primarily used for hunting.

Police said they initially received a complaint from the uncle in early June that he was receiving harassing, threatening and stalking messages. Investigators said the messages were sent from a spoofed phone number in order to conceal the identity of the person who was the actual source of the messages.

Upon executing a search warrant and a digital forensic examination, Westmoreland County detectives determined Calisti had been responsible for sending hundreds of messages from various devices using spoofed numbers, police noted. A Westmoreland County District Attorney’s digital forensic analyst determined the emails sent to the victim claiming to be from state agencies were also sent from Calisti’s devices.

Calisti is charged with theft, impersonating a public servant, stalking and harassment.

He was arraigned and placed in the Westmoreland County jail after failing to post $50,000 bail.

Calisti previously was out on bond for a theft scheme involving a credit union in Westmoreland County last year.

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