Fraud suspect Andrew Wilson aka Drew Dazzle.
To society, he was a high roller who bought flights for his friends and family, lived in high-end condos and had a nice set of wheels.
The only problem, police say, was that the life was a fake.
“He tried to create the persona of a high roller, someone who made lots of money and was very free with it and perhaps people just accepted it that he was a generous guy,” Toronto Police Det. Al Verwey said Monday. “Part of being a good confidence man is making people believe in your image.”
In the entertainment world, Andrew Wilson presented himself as the leader of several companies specializing in promotions and celebrity management — companies that, for the most part, didn’t exist, Verwey said.
The 39-year-old man who has been accused several times over the past decade of using fraud to fuel a lavish lifestyle is now accused of vagrancy, laundering proceeds of crime, fraudulently obtaining food and lodging, theft of telecommunications — the list goes on.
His two high-end condos, his expensive clothes, his vacations, his 2006 Range Rover and even his furniture were all paid for, Verwey alleged, through fraud.
“There’s no evidence that he earned a living,” Verwey said. “Our allegation is that he is supporting himself by crime.”
The accusations are the latest in a long list.
Since 2001, Peel Regional Police have accused Wilson — also known as Drew Wilson, Ken Jackson and, when posing with Bill Clinton on Facebook, Drew Dazzle — of using fraudulent credit cards for a private flight to Miami and limousines; they said he fraudulently lived in a Toronto condo and rented out visitor suites in the same way; and they said he used someone else’s debit card to steal $6,000.
On Nov. 29, when police allegedly caught him in the driver seat of a car not registered in his name — a breach of a release condition pending a trial in Toronto — they allege he gave them a false birthday.
That Wilson was even out of custody to allegedly commit the crimes he now stands accused of says something about the justice system, Verwey said.
“I think it kind of reflects the type of sentences that the courts hand out for white-collar crimes and it’s also a good lesson for both private landlords as well as business operators and financial institutions that when somebody’s applying for something, whether it’s a loan or a credit card or the rental of an apartment, that you have to go beyond the information that they put down on the application form and actually do some legitimate background checks,” Verwey said.
Verwey began investigating Wilson about two years ago during a routine traffic stop, he said. Wilson had no car insurance and Verwey later realized Wilson had allegedly given the wrong home address for a court summons.
“I’ve been keeping an eye out for him through different methods,” Verwey said, adding further charges are pending.
Anyone with information about Wilson, especially landlords who believe they were taken by him, were asked to contact Verwey at 416-808-1348 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-8477, 222tips.com, or by texting TOR and your tip to CRIMES.
