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SARNIA – A pair of names has been attached to the two mystery men arrested here amid a probe into allegations a homeowner was asked to pay for eavestrough work that wasn’t done, but police and border officials are still trying to confirm they’re real.
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Sarnia police said the men, arrested Monday after a homeowner on Franklin Avenue called them about an attempted fraud scam, produced identification from another country. In a Thursday interview, Ron Hansen, a Sarnia police deputy chief, said the duo had U.K. passports on them and spoke with accents, but investigators had some questions about the validity of the documents.
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“We’re still working with the CBSA to see if they are in fact legitimate documents,” he said of the Canada Border Services Agency. “We don’t know yet.”
As the probe continues, court documents from the Sarnia courthouse show the accused have been identified – at least for now – as Ned Myers, 21, and Jim Wall, 22. They say they’re of no fixed address.
The duo made brief appearances in court Friday morning by video link from the Sarnia Jail. A man with long, red hair identified himself as Wall and a second man with short dark hair said he was Myers. They both looked like the men in the mug shots Sarnia police issued earlier this week.
What was said in court Friday is covered by a publication ban that will be in effect until their trial is over. Wall will return to court again Monday while Myers has a bail hearing set for Thursday.
The court documents say the pair are jointly facing four charges including attempted fraud, fraudulently identifying themselves for monetary gain – allegedly as A1 and City of Sarnia employees – theft, and obstructing police. The theft allegedly took place in Hamilton, they say.
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Hansen said Thursday the accused were allegedly operating out of a vehicle they acquired in the Hamilton area.
Police said the homeowner in Sarnia was told the eavestrough cleaning job was done and further repairs were needed, but they realized no work had been done and called police. Two people were arrested a short distance from the scene, police said, adding that their investigation led them to previous incidents in other communities.
Hansen added he wasn’t sure what initially raised a red flag for investigators the U.K. passports weren’t real, but they were working with border officials to find out when and how the two men first arrived in Canada.
An update on the probe from Canada Border Services Agency and Sarnia police officials wasn’t immediately available on Friday
Anyone with information about this incident has been asked to call Sarnia police Det.-Const. Erik Ostenfeldt at (519)344-8861 x 6254.
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