Their two victims will be able to recover all of their money following a search carried out by the Laval police.
Open in full screen mode
After his guilty plea, Assad El -Atat was taken to the detention center at the Laval courthouse. He will have to serve a three-month prison sentence.
Pascal Robidas (View profile)Pascal Robidas
Voice synthesis, based on artificial intelligence, allows you to generate spoken text from written text.
Two criminals arrested eight months ago by the Laval Police Service (SPL) pleaded guilty Monday to charges of grandparent fraud against two elders whom they manipulated to steal money from them. x27;money, in November 2021. Following the search carried out by the SPL on the day of the arrest of the two criminals, the two cheated ladies will be able to recover the entire stolen amount.
Arrested on June 8, 2023, Assad El-Atat and Gabriel Ménard were part of a group of fraudsters from Laval who targeted people seniors and encouraged them to withdraw thousands of dollars in cash from the ATM.
The fraudsters contacted the person after obtaining information about them.
A first pretended to be a little- son who had just had a car accident involving a pregnant woman. To play on the sense of urgency, he mentioned having been arrested by the police, claiming to need money to be released from prison.
It was then that a second fraudster entered the scene and impersonated the father of a friend, allegedly a lawyer, who was asking an amount of $5000 in cash to pay bail at the police station.
Open in full screen mode
After his guilty plea, Gabriel Ménard recovered his freedom, but he will have to respect a two-year probation sentence, which includes a series of restrictive conditions.
Two other accomplices then came in person to collect the money, saying that they worked for a private mail delivery company.
The court's presentation of the facts revealed that two ladies from Laval agreed to pay respectively $4,900 and $5,000 to the group in the ;#x27;hoping to help a member of their family.
LoadingTrump and his allies threaten to bury US aid to Ukraine
Trump and his allies threaten to bury American aid to Ukraine
ELSELL ON INFO: Trump and his allies threaten to bury American aid to Ukraine
El-Atat, 25, and Ménard, 27, pleaded guilty to charges of fraud over $5,000, conspiracy and impersonation.
The case of two other people arrested at the same time has not yet been heard.
On the day of their arrest, a search conducted by investigators from the General Crime Squad of the Laval police led to the seizure of nearly $14,000 in cash, 18 cell phones and four vehicles in criminal property.
The prosecutor of the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP), Me Gabriel Sénécal, clarified during the guilty plea that the money, protected in a bank account, will be used to reimburse the two eldest victims of the fraud.
Assad El-Atat, who was convicted in the United States in 2018 for fraud, received three months in prison. He headed to the cells after filing his plea. He played the role of the courier who had to collect the money in person.
His accomplice Gabriel Ménard was able to regain his freedom. Although he has no criminal history, he is subject to a two-year probationary period during which he will have to respect several conditions of release. He was the driver of the vehicle used to fraudulently collect money from the victims.
Unfortunately, the number of cases of grandparent-type fraud has seen a significant increase in Laval territory in recent years, despite several prevention campaigns.
Victims are 79 years old on average. According to police data, they are most often robbed of amounts ranging from $400 to $10,000.
Laval police remind that victims who withdrew money of their own free will are held responsible by their financial institution under the law.
No possibility of reimbursement is possible in almost the majority of cases. It is therefore advisable to never give cash to a stranger.
Finally, it is strongly recommended not to hesitate to validate a request to withdraw money from those around you or the police services of your municipality.
Teilor Stone has been a reporter on the news desk since 2013. Before that she wrote about young adolescence and family dynamics for Styles and was the legal affairs correspondent for the Metro desk. Before joining Thesaxon , Teilor Stone worked as a staff writer at the Village Voice and a freelancer for Newsday, The Wall Street Journal, GQ and Mirabella. To get in touch, contact me through my teilor@nizhtimes.com 1-800-268-7116
