Written by FRANK PEEBLES
Citizen staff
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Thursday, 21 August 2008 |
RCMP Constable Rob Lamont holds up counterfeit credit cards and ID while displaying merchandise in front of him purchased with the cards. (Citizen photo by Brent Braaten)
It started with a police officer who put a bunch of seemingly unrelated clues together, aided by a couple of blips of coincidence. At the climax a lone Mountie halted a passenger flight as it was about to take off with a mastermind criminal aboard, followed by an all-out foot chase across the tarmac.
The suspect flew in to Prince George from Vancouver the day before and went on an all-day shopping spree. He stayed at a major hotel; he rented a nice car; he bought big-ticket items like fully-loaded cameras and cel phones, even an $80 crowbar.
He paid the whole tab with fake credit cards and counterfeit travellers' cheques and came within moments of getting clean away, except for a trail of curiosities that RCMP Const. Rob Lamont followed right out onto the flight apron of Prince George Airport.
It started with an unremarkable file: an abandoned car, not reported stolen. Clues at the car caught Lamont's attention, however.
One was a discrepancy with the license plate, which turned out to be legitimate but got his interest at the time. Next, it was a rental car, but the client's name did not match the driver's licence number he gave the rental clerk. The clerk also told Lamont that at the time of purchase, the client tried two credit cards that were declined before the third one worked.
All this inspired Lamont to find out more about the man who rented the car and he had a hunch to do it quickly.
He went to the airport and began looking for clues there. By sheer coincidence, the suspect was at the airport at that time. The suspect had slept in and missed his pre-booked flight earlier that day so he was booking a seat on a flight that was set to take off when Lamont connected the dots to know there was something very mismatched about the way his identity was being used.
"He had already boarded the plane," Lamont said. "I marched right in, setting off all the security alarms because, well, I have a gun. I told the flight personnel that I needed to speak to someone on the plane and they stopped everything and went in to get him."
The suspect was taken off the plane and walked down the steps to meet Lamont at the bottom. They had a brief conversation that involved questions about names and transactions.
"I reached behind me and when he heard the snap for my handcuffs go 'pop' he bolted," Lamont said.
The Mountie was in close pursuit as the suspect cut across the airfield's apron. He headed inside an open hangar and through it (ironically, the one housing the RCMP's aircraft) and climbed a fence to the airport's parking area.
"I thought there might be people in the hangar so I was yelling bloody murder 'stop, you're under arrest, stop that man,'" Lamont said.
"Two guys in the hangar opened the gate for me to go after him and they were joining in to help me chase him. He was on the road trying to flag down cars but everybody could see there was a guy with a Mountie chasing him so nobody was picking him up."
Lamont, an athletic man but running in his full duty gear, was winded by the long sprint but the suspect was doing worse. He was having an apparent asthmatic attack when Lamont caught up to him. "I had to call him an ambulance," Lamont said.
Others at the detachment are calling it the first arrest aided by Prince George air quality.
The evidence found in the suspect's possession, however, could not be made light of.
Lamont was particularly concerned by the cache of credit cards the suspect was using. They were not stolen cards, but brilliantly manufactured fake credit cards complete with holographic images. They worked because they used an actual number from a real card, "owned by a dental hygenist from Penticton who has no idea," with a face logo of a second credit card company and a 1-800 information number of a third credit card company, all on the one fraudulent card.
He also had a bogus B.C. driver's licence that was only caught as a fake at the time because Lamont is a leading member of the Bar Watch program and has experience with identification cards. He spotted tiny anomalies that the average person wouldn't notice.
He was also in possession of a makeshift but all too effective Canada Post master key for mailboxes, and various documents stolen from the Prince George office of a telecommunications company detailing the way some phone systems operate.
"He is good, I've got to tell you, I'm totally impressed by him," Lamont said.
He had built his skills up over time. He had already been convicted and sentenced to federal time for previous frauds and had been unlawfully at large from his parole since 2007.
"When I told (a Lower Mainland police agency) that I had him in Prince George they were ecstatic," Lamont said. "He faces a lot of suspicion down there for other incidents like this one. They wanted him really badly."
He is in custody with a number of police agencies interested in speaking with him about his talents.
Lamont is hoping to pursue the Prince George elements of the suspect's fraud spree but he must wait for local businesses to report things like bounced travellers' cheques, trace seized items to the stores in which they were purchased and properly secure surveillance video.
Lamont estimates the suspect purchased at least $10,000 in goods and services in Prince George, based on preliminary estimates. He claimed to be operating alone but Lamont is not assuming this to be true and is exploring the possibility he had help.
Anyone with information can call 250-561-3300 or give information anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS / www.pgcrimestoppers.bc.ca.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 21 August 2008 )
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