A panhandler skilled at giving people a sob story to bilk them out of their cash has reached to a new low as far as Gayle Lehmann is concerned - by weasling a cool $40 away from her 17-year-old son.
"Shame on him for hitting up a teenager," she said. "An adult is one thing but a teenager who works hard for his money (is another)."
It happened on Monday afternoon at Princess Auto parking lot near Massey and Westwood where Brendon Lehmann and a friend had gone to return an item. When his buddy made a quick stop at Tim Hortons nearby, Brendon opted to go back to his truck because he wasn't hungry.
That was when the con man struck.
"As soon as I opened the door he said 'can you help me?' and a I said 'yeah sure,'" said Brendon, who added he was in a good mood because he just got a Blackberry at no cost.
"I'd say I was pretty good and was going to give back," he said.
The man showed Brendon a set of truck keys and fed him a story about needing gas for propane but not having any money because someone had broken into his truck, smashing out the glass and stealing everything, including his wallet and coat.
"He said he was looking for someone to help for about two hours and yeah, you could definitely tell he'd been out in the cold for some time and looking for someone to hit," Brendon said.
The culprit suggested they drive over to an automatic teller machine at the Pine Centre Mall RBC on the other side of Westwood and Massey. When Brendon got cold feet, "he just sobbed up his story a little more, about how someone stole his insulin and he was on medication."
Brendon gave in and they drove over the to the bank machine. Once there, the man stuck his head out the passenger window, claiming he didn't want to look over his shoulder and get Brendon's personal identification number. But upon reflection, it was just as likely he was trying to avoid the eye of a security camera.
When Brendon forked over the $40, the man got his contact information, promising to return the money when he could. But so far, there have been no phone calls or cheques in the mail.
"Probably about two minutes afterwards," did Brendon realize he may have been duped.
When he told his mom the next evening, she responded with plenty of motherly concern.
"I said 'what?!'" Gayle said.
It also rang a bell with a friend of Gayle's who recalled reading a story in The Citizen newspaper that had similarities - from the lines about the break-in and needing money for propane to the comment that "there are no nice people in Prince George."
The suspect also matched in many ways the description police had given for the first story - Caucasian, 40 to 50 years old, about 5'10" tall, 170 to 180 pounds with dirty blonde hair, a moustache that extends down to the bottom of his jaw bone and wearing coveralls.
Brendon said the one who approached him was a pretty close fit, noting he had short hair and a frosted beard and was wearing a hoody and normal pants. "Nothing too crazy," Brendon said. "Not super out-of-the ordinary, just someone that looked like he needed a helping hand."
They didn't report the incident to police until Wednesday and Gayle said she was told nothing could be done because it was two days since the incident. But she suggests police could deploy an undercover officer or two to try an catch the scammer in a sting.
However, most of her anger and disappointment was directed at the con man himself especially because she's since learned the he also ripped off a teenage girl.
"Yes, it was only $40 but $40 is a lot of money to just about anybody nowadays," she said. "I'd like to catch him and take him down to police - oh, boy would I ever - just for the simple fact that how many other people has he done this too?"
