Suspects from Calgary, Canada, face more than 40 charges

Jun 13, 2014 17:17 GMT  ·  By

A drug complaint from the employees of a hotel in Calgary city of Alberta, Canada, leads police officers to uncovering mail theft and fraud organization.

Police were warned on May 12 of potential drug activity in one of the rooms of a hotel in the 9200 block of Macleod Trail S.E., but arriving on the scene they discovered multiple garbage bags filled with stolen mail, credit card and personal information.

Also present in the room were three notebooks that contained a large number of pages with credit card data and identity information, debit and credit cards as well as bank statements belonging to other people.

“The mail was a variety of things: bank statements, credit cards that were being delivered to people, government cheques that were being delivered to people,” said Staff Sgt. Kristie Verheul for Calgary Herald.

It seems that at the arrival of the police there was no one in the room but the customers of the hotel soon made their appearance and were identified as Gian-Paulo Marco Bellabono (37) and Ashley Sawatzky (23), both of Calgary.

The police in Calgary believe that the duo was part of a criminal organization planning to create fake cheques for bank fraud purposes. "The links to an organized group actually come from previous investigations and known offenders in previous investigations through the Calgary Police Service," said Verheul.

According to the police the personal details belonged to over 60 victims in the Woodbine area of the city and the activity of the group had been conducted over a span of several months.

“More than 60 different victims have been identified — most of whom live in the south west community of Woodbine — and six will appear in court as witnesses,” declard the sergeant.

The two suspects face over 40 charges, among them possession of identity documents, identity theft, identity fraud, credit card fraud, possession of stolen property over and under $5,000 / 3,700 EUR and possession of matter stolen from mail.

At the moment, the investigation team is attempting to find out the amount of money that had been obtained through fraudulent activity by the duo.

The suspects will appear in court at different dates, Bellabono on Monday and Sawatzky on June 24.

As a precaution, the police recommends having the cheques or credit cards delivered directly to the bank and picking them up at the earliest convenience. Also, authorities should be informed if mail does on arrive regularly.