Convicted con artist’s crime spree ends with conditional sentence

Andrew Wannek obtained more than $58,000 in goods and services over six weeks

A con artist who fraudulently obtained more than $58,000 in goods and services over a sixweek crime spree that ended at a Niagara Falls hotel has received a six-month conditional sentence.

Andrew Wannek appeared in Ontario Court of Justice in St. Catharines Thursday for sentencing on a multitude of fraudrelated offences, including identity theft.

He has been in custody since December 2018, the equivalent of having already served a 596day jail sentence.

He was sentenced Thursday to a six-month conditional sentence and will be under house arrest for the first four months.

He was also placed on probation for three years. Court heard Wannek has a lengthy criminal record that includes similar types of offences committed in several provinces.

He was arrested and charged with 36 offences in Calgary in 2015, for example, after police said a man entered stolen credit card numbers into personal identication number pads while making purchases at various fast food restaurants, electronics stores and pharmacies.

After being released from jail in British Columbia, he made his way to Ontario and committed a series of frauds in Oakville, Kitchener, Cambridge, Guelph and Niagara Falls.

Wannek used stolen credit cards to purchase goods and services at businesses including gas stations and convenience stores.

He'd purchase scratch tickets, cigarettes, food and prepaid Visa gift cards.

In one case, he used fraudulent documentation to rent a $37,000 vehicle. The car was never recovered.

In Niagara Falls, he fraudulently rented a room at a Lundy's Lane hotel.

When he was arrested, court was told, he was carrying 11 debit and credit cards that were not in his name, as well as a computer and two cellphones.