Accused grandparent scammer charged with sex crimes involving minor
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An Edmonton man accused of defrauding several Winnipeg seniors in so-called grandparent scams has also been charged for allegedly sexually assaulting a teenage girl in the city.
Winnipeg Police Service financial crime investigators were alerted after three city residents, all in their 80s, were defrauded of more than $37,000 in August after receiving calls from someone posing as a grandchild who claimed to need cash to pay for bail, police said Tuesday.
The first victim received several phone calls between Aug. 17 and 22 from a caller who claimed the victim’s grandson had been arrested and needed cash bail. The victim agreed to pay and handed over cash and gold and silver coins to a man who showed up at their door four separate times.
On Aug. 18, another adult received a call from someone claiming to be their grandson who needed cash for bail and the victim obliged, paying a man who went to their home to pick up money.
Then, between Aug. 20 and 21, the third victim received similar phone calls and agreed to pay a man who showed up at their home twice to pick up money, but that victim later called family members and learned the scammer was lying. The victim called police.
Officers responded to the area quickly and located a man who matched the suspect’s description and found evidence in the vehicle he was driving that was linked to all three victims.
Financial crime and major crimes investigators subsequently charged Daniel Edward Warren, 29, of Edmonton, with fraud over $5,000, two counts of fraud under $5,000, possession of methamphetamine and possession of fentanyl. He was held in custody.
Police, while investigating the frauds, learned Warren had travelled from Edmonton to Winnipeg with a teenage girl and that they had been staying at a short-term rental.
The girl told police she was sexually assaulted by Warren while staying with him at the rental and that she did not have the means to get back to Alberta on her own.
Sex crimes investigators went to the Winnipeg Remand Centre on Aug. 23 and charged Warren, who was being held at the jail on the fraud charges, with sexual assault, sexual assault with a weapon and sexual interference, which is a charge laid when an adult has sexual contact with a youth under the age of 16.
Warren remains in custody and the teenager was returned home to Edmonton safely, police said.
fpcity@freepress.mb.ca