Bail decision next week in grandparent scam case
A Quebec Court judge will decide next week whether to grant bail to two men arrested in May when the police cracked open an alleged network of fraud artists who scammed elderly victims out of large sums of money in a so-called grandparent scam.
After hearing evidence over the course of two days at the Montreal courthouse, Judge Robert Sansfaçon said on Friday he will render his decision on Sept. 1. The two men seeking a release, Avy Victor Doron, 46, and André Westerhout, 31, were arrested in May along with more than 20 other people when the Montreal police, Sûreté du Québec and other police forces made a series of arrests targeting the alleged network. The men face charges of conspiracy, fraud and being in possession of the proceeds of crime.
Any evidence presented during the bail hearing is subject to a publication ban. A third man who was also seeking bail, Adam Krajicek, 28, of Laval, saw his request for bail set aside Friday after prosecutor Bianca Rossi informed Sansfaçon the Crown had learned that morning that Krajicek is facing an order seeking to have him removed from Canada because of his criminal record.
According to a decision made by the Immigration and Refugee Board in 2010, Krajicek is a permanent resident who has lived in Canada since 1999 and is a citizen of the Czech Republic. Krajicek was escorted out of the prisoner’s dock and was returned to a provincial detention centre. Krajicek succeeded in having a stay of proceedings placed on the order for three years, in 2010, because he has family here. But the deportation order was reinstated recently. The next date in Krajicek’s case was set for Aug. 31. While it wasn’t stated in court on Friday, the removal order makes Krajicek a potential flight risk and therefore a debate on whether he should be granted bail for the time being became pointless.
The Montreal police investigation involved an alleged “grandparent scam,” where fraud artists call people they believe are elderly and trick them into believing they are relatives, like a nephew or a
grandchild, who need cash in an emergency. For example, in some cases the fraud artists convinced their vulnerable targets that they had caused a car accident by driving while impaired and needed money right away to avoid being charged.
According to the Montreal police, victims lost between $1,000 and $100,000. They also estimated that between 2014 and May of this year the network defrauded up to 500 victims in Quebec, including 350 in Montreal, out of a total of
$2.5 million. The victims ranged in age between 51 and 96.
The alleged ringleader of the fraud network, Patrick Dinucci, 32, was in Italy when the arrests were made in May. He was arrested with the help of an RCMP unit based in Rome and steps have been taken to have Dinucci extradited to Canada. According to a statement issued by the Montreal police this week, Dinucci has a court hearing scheduled for Aug. 30, in Italy, related to the extradition request.