A Montrealer suspected of having managed a network of grandparent type fraudsters who would have made more than 600 victims in the United States was arrested in the early afternoon on Friday, learned The press. Gareth West had been wanted since last March for fraud totaling 30 million.
“We arrested Gareth West this afternoon. He must appear tomorrow in the Superior Court. We acted in assistance to the American police, “confirmed Corporal Erique Gasse of the Royal Canadian Gendarmerie (RCMP) Eastern Region, Quebec and the Maritime Provinces.
According to information that has not been confirmed, West was arrested in the Saint-Jérôme sector by RCMP investigators, at the request of the American authorities.
West, an individual who presents himself as a real estate investor who buys and resells houses, faces many fraud chiefs before a court in Vermont, in the northeast of the United States, and will probably face an extradition request from the American authorities.
220 Cellules seized
The press Published barely a few days ago, on June 26, a complete file in the operating mode of this network and the United States-Quebec police investigation which led to its dismantling.
Read the file of The press on the operating mode of this network
The fraudsters pretended to be a grandson or a granddaughter of their victim, made him believe that they had been involved in a collision with wounded, that they were detained and needed a large sum of money to obtain their provisional freedom while waiting for the rest of the procedures.
The fraudsters counted on the services of collectors, of which a boss was in Panama, and moved everywhere in the United States to recover the sums given in good faith by the vulnerable victims.
The fraudsters made their calls from premises located in the west of Montreal and last March, the Sûreté du Québec, which lent assistance to the American police, arrested 24 of them who are the subject of an extradition request in the United States, where they incur sentences of up to 40 years of imprisonment.
The BROWN OF THE SQ has searched several places, including three call centers, and entered more than 220 cell phones used for fraud.
Compromising messages
According to a summary of the facts prepared by the American authorities and tabled during the extradition procedures in Montreal, at least three former members of the fraudsters who have become police collaborators in the United States agreed to testify against West.
In phones used by accused and seized by Quebec Sûreté investigators, the police discovered text messages between lieutenants in the network of fraudsters and West, then nicknamed Muscle, Buddy or G, and even vocal messages in which West would speak of amounts to recover in the context of grandparent type fraud.
Investigators also known that at least one of the suspects went to two buildings belonging to West during the investigation.
West himself published on his business’s web page, West Developments, a video in which he announces that he bought the building in front of which he is in Vaudreuil-Dorion. The problem is that this building would have served as an appeal center to commit the fraud and was searched by the SQ.
Speaking of the search, the investigators also found documents on paper with the head of the company of Gareth West.
A brief portrait
On websites, West presents himself as the founder and CEO of West Developments, a company registered in Quebec in 2015, and as “a real estate manufacturer and a health enthusiast”.
According to our information, Gareth would have, in its name or those of nominees, at least half a dozen properties in Quebec and Ontario.
During his run, taxes and services would not have been paid for its properties in Ontario which would have been taken up by the bank, when another of its buildings was closed by firefighters due to construction defects, according to a report by Radio-Canada. Radio-Canada also reports that the police believe that West would have made more than $ 10 million with the network of fraudsters he would have directed.
On social networks, West exhibits his luxurious lifestyle, in particular by photos and videos of him taken around the world, and his routines and exercises in the fitness centers which he frequents assiduously.
For a few weeks in 2017, West was president of a bakery-pastry product company whose administrator was Steve Vogl, an individual whom the police connects to the Montreal mafia, and who made the headlines eight years ago when he had obtained the caterer contract for the Grande Roue du Vieux-Montréal.
Photo filed in court
Jimmy Ylimaki is still wanted by the police.
Another alleged member of the fraudster network, Jimmy Ylimaki, is still wanted by the police.
To reach Daniel Renaud, compose him 514 285-7000, post 4918, write to [email protected] or write to the postal address The press.
