Leanna Super Sleuth Takes Down Patrick White Con Artist

Well it has been a memorable week.

I have a small business, a gift store that I am in the process of closing. Recently a charming older man came to my store with wants to buy it. Since it had been doing poorly since 9/11 I was more than happy to be able to squeeze some cash out of it rather than close it.

So, Patrick White, who professed to be Jewish, became the savior of my little business. He made big promises. He told me that he recently had a heart attack and it changed his focus on the world and that he wanted to do things now that were meaningful. He said he really was not interested in making a profit but in helping me out. I was leery but, on the other hand, I did not have much to lose at that point. I had quite a debt and the store was costing me personal money to keep open. What the heck?

Patrick White was involved with PRUDE a not-for-profit organization in town and also was a regular at the senior's center. He took me to both places and introduced me around. Everyone seemed to know and like Patrick. He was up front and told me that he had only been in Saint John for a couple of months, that he had moved here from out west. Thus, I knew there was no reason to go to these organizations for references as they had not known him long either.

Over the next couple of weeks we made deals and he told me he wanted me to stay on since I had the experience to run the business and we would work together to turn the thing around. He said, "You won't be using any more of your money. I'll be responsible now". But, Patrick was always waiting for a cheque. I loaned him $100 one day thinking, if he is a con, I'll never see this money again but hey, it is only $100 and it was worth finding out. He did not have the money on the day he said he would but the next day he paid me back. And so it went on. He kept making more promises that just seemed too good to be true. He had the store torn apart renovating and it was coming along well. But, then he moved my stock out to his apartment so that it would not be in the way of the renovations. I was not happy with that as he had not asked me my permission. I mentioned it to him and smiling, as he always did, he assured me that he had given me the written agreement and that things were fine. Then, I overheard that a couple of my displays were sold. I told Patrick that he was not to sell any more of my things unless he spoke to me first. Again, he said he needed to create some cash flow for the renovations and that the new store did not need those racks. Further more, he told me that those particular racks were not sold but given to a charity that he was involved in. And on it went, until one day after about a month, on the day that Patrick was to have my first weekly payment of $500, he did not have all the $500 payment for me. He gave me $300. Not only that, he had borrowed $1200 from my husband's business that day. So, he was actually paying me with my own money and not even the full amount! I was not happy at all but what could I do? I left to go put the cash on my taxes that were owing for my business but when I got to town, I did not have the money. I had not taken my purse into the store so I had put the money in my pocket. I was sure he had either taken in back when I was not looking or pick pocketed me. I went back to the mall, even looked through the trash at Tim Hortons and could not find the money. After checking with the various lost and founds in the mall, I was leaving and ran into the mall manager. I told her the story and she asked if I had checked all my pockets. I said, "Of course, I only have two". She said, "No the one on the side of your leg?" I said, "I never use that". Then she said "Well what about your back pocket, I can see you have something in it." Sure enough I had the money all along. Things work out like they should because during this escapade, I had been very suspicious of Patrick. Actually, I had been suspicious of his motives right from the start so, I called a Jewish acquaintance of mine, who is big in the Jewish community and asked her if she knew Patrick White. She said she had never heard of him, that he had never set foot in their synagogue. That put up a big red flag for me. The next morning I went on the web to see if I could find out anything about Patrick White. He had said he was a retired "big wig" in the Canadian government and he showed me lots of ID to prove it. I was sure if he had been that important, that there would be something somewhere about him on the net, a meeting he'd been involved in etc. I surfed and surfed. I could not find anything about that but when I added "con" to the search, this is what I found;

In a 1994 Toronto Life article entitled "Con Man," the criminal life of Patrick White was explored, stemming from his defrauding of a local newspaper of $20,000. "Charmed by White's affable manner, by his habit of smiling when he spoke," and "by the Torah he displayed on his night table," David Mackin allowed alleged investor Mr. White to take over as Managing Editor of his small newspaper. "White," notes Toronto Life, "was regularly attending Kensington market synagogue and by all appearances was a devoutly religious man." [TORONTO LIFE, 11-94] Once White absconded, it was learned that he was a master fraudster. He had served jail time in Canada in 1978 for "indecent assault," and in 1982 for "a pair of fraud convictions." And there were outstanding arrest warrants for him across North America: Ontario -- theft, Virginia -- sexual assault against a boy, New York -- larceny, Mississippi -- sodomy and sexual assault against a boy, Ontario -- theft, Nova Scotia -- theft and fraud, Virginia -- sexual assault, and Alberta -- sexual assault. In New Brunswick, he then hired 35 people for nonexistent jobs for a nonexistent night club, charging them each $100 for "uniforms." While in Toronto, White once hired three boys to shovel snow from his sidewalk. Inviting them inside, he showed them pornography. "When police searched the house," notes Toronto Life, "they found a cache of pornography along with religious texts White had borrowed from a local rabbi. It was entitled The Sexual Morality of Young People." [TORONTO LIFE, 11-94]

This describes Patrick so I went to the police. They listened to my story and then said that the name rang a bell. They brought out some pictures for me to look through and sure enough he was in the "line up" so to speak. They had 4 warrants out for his arrest in Saint John alone. I took them to him and they arrested the creep.

They allowed me to take the stock from his apartment that belonged to me but unfortunately he had already sold over half. He had a bail hearing yesterday. He did not get bail. He was reprimanded to jail until his trial in September. Some things do go right!

Since then, I have found out more about Patrick White. He is not allowed to be around boys under the age of 14. You know what that means. And there are warrants all around the country for his arrest. My understanding is that he has never worked a legitimate job for a day in his life. He preys on business that are not doing well and basically promises to be their savior. He also preys on lower income people and seniors, offering everyone hope. I found a file of his in my office with vocabulary that he was studying, catch phrases, sayings and Bible verses that he was memorizing. He had law books in his apartment that he read and studied. He truly is a pro.

Unfortunately, fraud does not come with a heavy penalty as it is not a violent crime. So, I am told that he will likely end up with house arrest in the end and likely move to another city where he will be safe because every warrant has a radius. Some are only 25 miles. They are set by the DA. This means that often they just want him out of their city. In other words, they are passing the problem on. I am very sad to learn this because this means that Patrick White will eventually move on to repeat his crimes. Think about it, he is 62 years old and it has been his life's work. He has not spent much time in jail. He knows the law and uses it to his advantage. The reason for me recording this on my blog is so that if you come in contact with this criminal, you will have another place to find information about him.

Patrick White is 62 years old now(August 19, 2005). He does look a bit Jewish. I don't know if he really is but he has all the stuff to prove it including the Torah. However, he does eat ham, saying it is not important what you put in your mouth but rather what comes out of it. He is not a handsome man. He is overweight, he has buck teeth with large spaces between his teeth. His head is oval shaped and slopes towards the back. His hair is gray but his hairline is well receded. He wears glasses. He always smiles when he speaks and looks you right in the eye. He is pleasant and is always trying to help people, especially younger boys and young men, giving them a "safe" place to stay for a few nights at his home. In the short time I knew him he had three older homeless teens staying with him but not all at the same time. He plays the organ by ear. He tries to get heavily involved in volunteer organizations to give himself credibility. He claims to have heart problems and knows all the medications that go along with that and he will flash his bottle of nitro for you to see. He claims to be law abiding and does not like it for you to speed if you are driving him. This of course is because he is nervous of the police seeing him if you are caught because of the number of warrants out for him. He is good and very convincing. If you become involved with him, go to the police. He is bad news.