PORT ANGELES — A Tacoma woman accused of participating in a scheme to scam a 71 year-old Sequim woman out of $40,000 was arraigned in Clallam County Superior Court on Friday.
Alla Mashkova, 36, pleaded not guilty to first-degree theft and second-degree extortion, according to court records. Judge Elizabeth Stanley set a court date for June 23, 2025. Mashkova appeared via Zoom and spoke with the assistance of an interpreter.
Officers with the Clallam County Sheriff’s Department arrested Mashkova on March 12 in Sequim in a sting operation after she was observed collecting $40,000 in cash from the Sequim woman, who had previously handed over a total of $125,000 over three separate occasions to a man claiming to be an agent with the Federal Trade Commission.
According to a supplemental arrest report filed by the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office, Mashkova on three occasions this year had collected large sums of money under similar circumstances from victims in Burien, Redmond and Portland, Ore.
The man pretending to be the FTC agent, Pralay Kumar Kar, 39, was arrested March 21 by members of the Snohomish Regional Task Force at his residence in Bothell. He was transported to Clallam County Jail where he remains on $200,000 bond. Kar is scheduled to be arraigned April 2 in Clallam County Superior Court on charges of first-degree theft and second-degree extortion.
Mashkova was released on $50,000 bond and will be allowed to continue to make court appearances via Zoom as long as she does not violate her electronic monitoring terms.
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Reporter Paula Hunt can be reached at paula.hunt@peninsula dailynews.com
