'Hipster Grifter' arrested in Philadelphia

The so-called "Hipster Grifter," a Utah woman accused in a series of schemes and bizarre sexual propositions, has been arrested in Philadelphia.

A spokeswoman for the Philadelphia Police Department told the Deseret News on Monday that Kari Ferrell, 22, was arrested at 10:45 p.m. Sunday after officers were summoned to an address in the city where she surrendered. Police knew she was wanted in Salt Lake City, the spokeswoman said.

"Once the extradition process runs its course, we'll be out to get her," Salt Lake Police Sgt. Fred Ross said Monday.

Ferrell is slated for extradition to Salt Lake City, where she faces $60,000 in felony fraud warrants that landed her on the police department's most-wanted list. When stories of alleged cons involving Ferrell in Brooklyn's hipster scene were published recently in the New York Observer, it turned her into a sort of Internet celebrity, with Web sites posting tales of people claiming to have been scammed by Ferrell, accusing her of faking pregnancies, cancer and jobs while allegedly fleecing people out of money.

Ferrell posted an online video confessional of her own on animalnewyork.com shortly before surrendering, saying she was "taking care of things."

"Things were getting ridiculous," she told Animal magazine when asked why she surrendered, saying that she asked for people to write to her when she's booked into jail in Salt Lake City.

A YouTube video and an Internet posting by police first led to many people knowing that Ferrell was a wanted woman. Salt Lake police have found new success in using the Internet to publicize its most sought-after fugitives. Because of all the blog postings, viral videos and Internet articles, police said, more people have come forward to claim that they were victimized — which could lead to more criminal charges being leveled against Ferrell in Utah.

"There was a lot of attention surrounding this," Ross said. "For us, it shows there's other mediums out there we can utilize to bring people to justice."

E-MAIL: bwinslow@desnews.com