ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — Accused “grandparent scam” thief Charles Gillen’s scheduled bail hearing was postponed Tuesday, March 7, after police laid 27 more charges against him.
Gillen, 23, appeared briefly in provincial court in St. John’s, where he indicated he understand the latest charges, and said he was seeking a private lawyer from outside the province. He’ll remain in custody until his next court appearance on March 13.
Royal Newfoundland Constabulary officers arrested Gillen at St. John’s International Airport March 2 and charged him with extortion, fraud over $5,000 and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence in connection with a scam targeting seniors. Including the newest charges, Gillen now faces nine counts each of extortion, fraud over $5,000 and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence, along with three counts of wearing a disguise with intent to commit a crime.
Police say Gillen was carrying an undisclosed amount of cash and was believed to be attempting to leave the province at the time of his arrest, which came after an investigation into more than a dozen reports of the scam in the metro area.
RNC Const. James Cadigan told reporters last week the scam involved a person calling a senior and pretending to be a family member who had been arrested. That call would be followed by another one, this time from a person claiming to be a police officer or a lawyer, telling the senior their loved one needed bail money in order to be released.
“A phone number was provided to the senior, who was told to call back once money was withdrawn from their bank and they were informed at that point that an individual would attend their home to pick up that money,” Cadigan said. “In some of the cases reported to the RNC, there were thousands in losses.”
The police investigation is ongoing and police say they’ve assembled a major case management team to investigate the large-scale fraud scheme, which they believe spans the country.
“Officers are collaborating with police services nationwide to support the investigation of these events,” the RNC stated in a news release Tuesday.
Gillen is the second person the RNC has arrested in connection with the “grandparent scam.” In December, 23-year-old Marin Cournoyer was arrested and charged with fraud after a Paradise resident called police to report a situation in progress where Cournoyer was attempting to collect cash from them. Cournoyer had allegedly posed as a lawyer representing the resident’s loved one who was in trouble and needed bail money.
Cournoyer’s next court appearance is set for March 23.
Police are asking anyone who may have been targeted by the fraud scheme and anyone with any information that could help the investigation to contact them at 729-8000.
The RNC is also advising residents to be suspicious of anyone seeking large amounts of cash within a short time frame; not to trust a phone number just because it’s local, since fraudsters can use technology to “spoof numbers”; and to use caution when posting online, since scammers can gather information from social media accounts to make their claims seem legitimate. Anyone receiving a call from someone claiming to be law enforcement looking to obtain personal information should end the call and contact the police agency; and anyone receiving a suspicious call from someone claiming to be a loved one in jail or the hospital requiring emergency money transfers should do the same.
Anyone who receives unsolicited mail, email, text messages or phone calls asking for any type of personal information should immediately ignore and discard it, the RNC stated.
