Murder victim had history of fraud
A man shot to death in North Vancouver on Wednesday had a history of fraud in both B.C. and California.
Ali Reza Serri, 43, was killed and an associate wounded just before 11 p.m. on Sept. 30 in the 200-block of East 17th Street.
The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team said both men were shot while seated in a vehicle in a rear laneway. The second victim is expected to survive.
“Both victims are known to police and this is believed to be a targeted event,” Sgt. Frank Jang said. “Determining the motive behind the shooting will be a priority for investigators.”
At the time of his murder, Serri was on probation after pleading guilty last year to fraud, mail theft and other charges for targeting empty homes in the British Properties in what a judge called “an elaborate fraud and mail-theft scheme.”
B.C. Prosecution Service spokesman Dan Mclaughlan said Friday that Serri was sentenced in November 2019 to nine months in jail and 18 months of probation.
Both Serri and his mother, who owned the BMW he was driving while committing his crimes, were named in a lawsuit filed by the B.C. Civil Forfeiture Office 11 months ago.
The suit said the agency believed Serri was the actual owner of the 2012 vehicle, which West Vancouver police seized on Aug. 7, 2019.
The suit lays out details of the criminal case against Serri, which began in December 2018 when a West Vancouver resident called police about mail that had been stolen some time in November.
The same complainant later told police that a package mailed to her had been picked up from a Canada Post outlet without her permission. Police used video surveillance to identify Serri as the suspect.
“The WVPD initiated an investigation into the fraudulent activities of Mr. Serri which included surveillance of Mr. Serri and a court-authorized tracking device being placed on the vehicle,” the claim said.
In March 2019, police linked Serri to fraudulent transactions at London Drugs and Ikea using fake credit cards.
He was arrested on April 26, 2019, after police saw him steal two pieces of mail.
He had 1.5 grams of methamphetamine with him at the time, the lawsuit said.
Serri was linked to more fraud and forgery offences in May and was charged in June 2019. After he was released on bail, he continued to commit fraud and forgery offences, the government agency said, adding that the car should be forfeited as an “instrument of unlawful activity.”
Serri's mother claimed in her response that she had no idea that her son had been involved in crimes.
In fact, Serri was convicted of fraud-related charges in California in 2011 and was handed a 21-month sentence.
Court documents, obtained by Postmedia, say Serri “knowingly possessed at his residence in Los Angeles County approximately 20 loan files obtained from a person who had worked at Wells Fargo Bank” and that he was using the files “in an attempt to defraud Wells Fargo Bank and the persons in the loan files.”
Serri also possessed a device to install in bank machines to skim credit and debit cards, the court document said.
The U.S. records included two California drivers' licences featuring Serri's photo and two different names: Ashfin Rahmani and Arash Razaghi. A confidential informant went to police in California about Serri's plan to install “a credit card skimming device into an ATM located at Madame Toussaud's (sic) Wax Museum in Hollywood,” U.S. court documents said.
Jang said IHIT wants dash cam video taken in the area of St. Andrews Avenue and East 17th Street, as well as on the Second Narrows and Lions Gate bridges around the time of the shooting.
Anyone with information should contact IHIT at 1-877-551-4448 or ihitinfo@rcmp-grc.gc.ca.