Police seek help in elder abuse case

Niagara Regional Police are hunting for two people they say tricked a senior into giving them money. In a news release Tuesday, police say a 78-year-old St. Catharines man received a phone call from a woman claiming to be his niece, who was asking for financial help on Feb. 17. When he said he did not have money to give her, the woman started to cry, and the man agreed to give her cash. The woman on the phone said a man would come by to collect the money. A short time later, a man came to the victim’s house on Grantham Avenue at about 3:45 p.m. to collect an envelope of cash and then left on foot. Police say the elderly man then received a second phone call from the woman asking for more money. The victim went to a bank to withdraw money and a short time later, the same man from earlier in the day arrived to collect the money. Police say neither the woman on the phone nor the man who collected the cash used the victim’s name and the elderly man said he never gave them his address. The senior speaks Polish, and so did the woman on the phone and the man who collected the money. Police say they are still trying to determine how and why the victim was targeted. Police have released security camera footage of the male suspect recorded by cameras attached to another house on Gratham Avenue. He is reported to be about 5-foot-8, with medium-toned skin, short black hair and dark eyes. He was wearing black clothing, police say. Police have also connected a black truck to the crime. The vehicle is a newer model GMC Sierra four-door with a tonneau cover, chrome bars and after-market spoked rims. Police are asking anyone with information to call Det. Const. Steve Vandenbos of the NRP fraud unit at 905-688-4111.