Two people from Toronto were charged in Winnipeg after multiple attempted distraction thefts to snatch jewelry from older women in the city, the Winnipeg Police Service said.
The 27-year-old man and a 26-year-old woman from the Scarborough area of Toronto were arrested and charged with the thefts, which occurred in Winnipeg on Canada Day, police said in a news release.
It began around 9:30 a.m. outside the home of a woman in her 60s on Berrydale Avenue.
Police said the suspects arrived in a dark SUV and told the woman that they were new to the neighbourhood and wanted to “bless” her. The female suspect then hugged the woman and swapped her real gold chain for a fake, police said.
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Around noon, another woman told police her gold necklace was swapped for an imitation, the service said. She reported being approached by a man and a woman while standing outside an assisted living complex in Selkirk, less than 40 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg.
At approximately 1:30 p.m., the couple tried to place imitation jewelry on a woman in her 80s while she was in the parking lot of a store at the 1600 block of Kenaston Boulevard, according to the release.
The woman “believed she was being targeted” and left, police said. A man was seen waiting in a nearby Chevrolet SUV, which police said had an Ontario licence plate.
That licence plate information was ultimately used by police to find and arrest the suspects at a home in the 200 block of Ken Oblick Drive, Winnipeg police said.
Officers searched the home and seized cash, as well as fake and authentic jewelry, according to police. Some of those goods were returned to the original owners.
Both suspects are facing charges including robbery, conspiracy to commit fraud and possession of property obtained by crime.
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