Niverville man’s assets frozen in alleged multi-province ad scam

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/01/2014 (4116 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Assets of William Murphy from Niverville believed by police to have come from an advertising and telemarketing scam he ran using fake police publications have been frozen by a court order.

The provincial Director of Criminal Property and Forfeiture has named Murphy and his wife Kerrie Murphy in a civil proceeding in the Winnipeg Court of Queen’s Bench. It is alleged that about 200 different businesses wrote cheques to Police News of Manitoba, a publication that does not exist and has a bank account with a Winnipeg branch of Toronto Dominion Bank. Investigation by Winnipeg Police also found related accounts owned by Murphy under the names Police News of Saskatchewan and Police News of Alberta. A fake publication called Police News of Winnipeg was also used to solicit advertising cheques from businesses according to police.

Between July 1, 2009 and May 21, 2013, $87,755.80 was deposited in the Police News of Manitoba account. During that same time, over $90,000 was transferred out of this account to other accounts with TD Bank. Police say each transfer out corresponded with money being deposited on the same day or shortly after.

None of the business owners interviewed by police said they saw the publication they were paying to advertise in., including the Military Family Resources Centre out of Winnipeg. The alleged scam only came to light in April 2013 when the commercial crime unit received six complaints about someone trying to sell advertising in Winnipeg Police News and/or Police News of Winnipeg.Payments were made to Police News of Manitoba at 814 St Mathews Avenue in Winnipeg. Police in Regina and Calgary visited addresses listed as belonging to the publications. A Winnipeg detective drove to the Winnipeg address and found a commercial building with no signage and glass doors and windows covered with white plastic from the inside.

The on May 16, 2013, a man who worked at the St Mathews office was interviewed by police regarding a mischief charge. The interview was passed on to the detective investigating the alleged scam. In it, Desmond Kowalenko said he had been hired by a James Murphy after answering an ad for a telemarketer job about ten years ago. Kowalenko said he worked for two days calling people to sell a police magazine but never saw the publication nor recalled seeing any printing equipment. Kowalenko described the office as small, divided into cubicles with two desks in each cubicle. He said he was part of a group of six to eight people working the phones. Kowalenko said when he was not paid as promised after two days he got angry and smashed James Murphy’s car window, which led to the mischief charge.

Police got a warrant and collected photocopies of mail going to the St Mathews address. The Police News publications and William Murphy were among the recipients. A statement of claim was first filed in December. A statement of defence has not yet been filed. The next court hearing in Winnipeg is on Feb.18.

 

Read the full story in this week’s Carillon