‘What right does he have to do what he did?' Absentee landlord and alleged ringleader of grandparent scam arrested in Quebec
'No problem,' said Wendy Nichols. The senior citizen has learned to relish the small things. She and dozens of other tenants at 14 Holland Street in St. Thomas were caught in the crossfire of an international manhunt for their former landlord.
'I'm very happy about him being arrested, because what right does he have to do what he did?' she asked.
The 'he' she's talking about is Gareth West, the former landlord of her building.
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Gareth West's website: garethwest.com
The self-described real estate builder and investment coach also happens to be the alleged ringleader of a sophisticated grandparent scam in the United States.
West was arrested last Friday in Quebec. The 38 year old from Burlington, Ontario was among 25 Canadians charged by U.S. authorities for allegedly defrauding seniors in Vermont and 40 other states. West had been on the run since March, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Vermont.
'And the lies,' exclaimed Nichols. 'He came to my door, lied to my face, he told me he was a Christian man. Tried to buy me out up there,' she said.
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Wendy Nichols, tenant of 14 Holland Street, St. Thomas. (Bryan Bicknell/CTV News London)
For tenants of the Holland Street three-storey walk-up, the trouble began when garbage started piling up outside the building this past spring.
Then, for a brief period in June, the hydro and water were shut off due to unpaid bills, before the city intervened and had the utilities restored.
'That was very stressful,' said tenant Kim Doxtator, who uses a breathing machine. 'The hydro got shut off, the water got shut off. Even though that was only a few hours, for a lot of our tenants, that was a long time,' she said.
Meanwhile, the experiences of tenants at a London apartment are all too similar to those of the tenants at 14 Holland Street in St. Thomas.
'He just came here one day and tried to con everybody by handing them $20,000 to move out,' said senior citizen Dennis Johnston, who lives at 308 Egerton Street in London.
Tenants at this building also had Gareth West as their landlord, until he disappeared earlier this year.
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308 Egerton Street, London. (Bryan Bicknell/CTV News London)
'We found out about Gareth's alleged grandparent scam back in about June this year, when our hot-water heater gave out and left us without hot water for about a week and a half,' said tenant Andrew Foster, who lives at 308 Egerton with his partner and children.
West's properties in London and St. Thomas have since been taken over by Mortgage company, Richmond Advisory Services.
In the meantime, he is being held at a detention centre in Quebec pending a request for extradition to the U.S. by the Department of Homeland Security.
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