3rd suspect wanted in major Toronto moving scam investigation surrenders to police

After someone saw a December CityNews story about moving scams, they contacted Toronto police to report their belongings were stolen. A month-long investigation resulted in the possessions of 22 families being recovered. Nick Westoll reports.

Toronto police investigators say a third suspect wanted as part of a moving scam investigation has surrendered to officers.

According to an update issued by the service Wednesday morning, 27-year-old Toronto resident Amethyst Jones turned herself in to police sometime on Tuesday.

The arrest came a day after officers announced the accused was wanted on several charges, including conspiracy to commit an indictable offence, 22 counts of false pretense, 22 counts of fraud over $5,000, 22 counts of mischief over $5,000 and 22 counts of possession of property obtained by crime.

Two other individuals, Cemal Ozturk and Dogan Celik, were arrested and charged with the same offences on Friday after Toronto police officers executed a search warrant at two warehouses near Bellamy Road North and Progress Avenue.

Officers said the personal items belonging to 22 victims were found in the warehouse spaces, which were estimated to be up to 20,000 square feet.


RELATED: Calls for government action to crack down on moving scams grow amid Toronto bust


“It’s not only furniture and televisions that we’re finding,” 41 Division Const. Chris Long told reporters outside the facility on Monday.

“There’s a lot of property with extreme sentimental value to these victims: Photo albums, family memorabilia, there are deceased members’ personal effects, in some cases, the ashes of family members that are being stored here – things that a victim can never replace and we want to make sure we do everything we can to make sure these victims are reunited with their property.”

Although the items were all found together, a mammoth effort is underway to try to get all of the belongings back to those who have been waiting for weeks to put those items safely into storage — especially at the end of the month when many moving companies have crews booked.

Long said the accused in the case operated under various moving company names, including 12282569 Canada Inc., O’Canada Movers, Roadway Moving and Storage Inc., SafeBound Moving and Storage Inc., Canadian Principal Movers, All You Can move, Right on Track Moving, New Vision Moving and Greenway Moving.

The case came amid growing calls from victims, lawyers and advocates for governments and police services to take action to crack down on moving scams as the number of victims continues to surge.


RELATED: Toronto police bust brazen moving scam, recover property belonging to 22 families


Long said these types of scams have become prevalent beyond Toronto’s border and have spread across eastern Canada.

“Often victims are confused about who they should be reporting this to and in a lot of cases it’s just not going reported,” Long said, urging people to contact their local police service to help with broader ongoing investigations.

“I would assume I haven’t even hit the tip of the iceberg of these kinds of things. We want to send a message to them too. If you do this sort of thing, you will be arrested. We will do everything we can to protect our victims.”

Meanwhile, Jones was scheduled to appear in a Toronto courtroom Wednesday morning.

The charges against all of the accused haven’t been proven in court.

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