Chilliwack man faces 39 charges in connection with scams against seniors
Credit to Author: Scott Brown| Date: Tue, 14 Jan 2020 20:22:49 +0000
A Chilliwack man faces 39 charges in connection with a series of thefts and scams that targeted Metro Vancouver seniors in August and September of last year.
Donald Robert Quinnell was arrested Sept. 12 by Vancouver police on an unrelated Canada-wide warrant, and has been in custody since.
Nine of the charges filed against Quinnell are for wallet and credit card thefts, while 30 charges stem from allegations of fraud committed using the credit cards.
He is scheduled to appear in North Vancouver court on Jan. 17.
North Vancouver police issued a warning about Quinnell in September after receiving reports of con man who was preying on seniors in West Vancouver, North Vancouver and Vancouver.
Police say the alleged fraudster, who presented himself as a “well-dressed, well-mannered” man, would approach seniors who were alone and then either offer help carry groceries or spin a tale that he’d locked himself out of his car and needed help, frequently in grocery store parking lots or outside homes. He was then able to enter the victim’s home where he allegedly stole their valuables quietly.
Quinnell served jail time in 2008 and again in 2015 for thefts in Calgary and Chilliwack. In those cases, Quinnell stole money from seniors inside a retirement home and in one case used his own child, then a toddler, to gain someone’s trust as part of a scam.