A two-year Burnaby RCMP investigation into a suspected “fraud farm” in Pitt Meadows has led to charges against four men.
On April 26, 2023, police raided a property in the 17600-block of Kennedy Road in Pitt Meadows and recovered $300,000 in "stolen and fraudulently obtained items," including two excavators and two industrial printers, according to a news release in May 2023.
Police said the excavators and printers had been fraudulently obtained from businesses in Burnaby two months earlier.
The printers were valued at $97,000, and police said they were capable of printing driver’s licences, bank drafts, credit cards and other identification documents.
Police said the search warrant turned up “various indicators that the location was being used as an organized fraud factory.”
A total of 48 charges have now been laid against four men in the case: Joel Ellingson, 50; Kelly Roberge, 54; Wesley Lawson, 33; and Michael Ridley, 37.
Charges include theft over $5,000, possession of stolen property over $5,000, identity theft, tampering with a vehicle identification number, possession of identity fraud documents, illegal use of credit card data, falsifying credit cards, forgery and personation.
“Identity theft and fraud can have serious and long-lasting impacts on victims,” Burnaby RCMP Cpl. Mike Kalanj said in a news release about the charges Wednesday. “We believe disrupting and dismantling this operation likely prevented additional people from becoming victims.”
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