Fraudster Unmasked: Serial Conman's Identity Revealed
June 6, 2015 | Fraud
After two years, the identity of a serial conman and thief, who preys on elderly women living in rest homes can be revealed.
For the past two years Fred Charles Snell has been before the courts on charges of stealing from sisters in their 90s. Photo / Nick Reed
This is Fred Charles Snell - one of Auckland's most prolific, scurrilous and predatory fraudsters. He targets elderly women living in rest homes, steals from them, manipulates them.
He's been doing this over and over again for decades.
For the past two years he has been before the courts on charges of stealing from sisters in their 90s - while he was on parole for almost identical offending.
Until now a suppression order has prevented the Weekend Herald from publishing Snell's name and photograph.
His most recent victim, now 92, wants everyone to know who he is and what he has done, and says "he can't do this to anyone else".
Meeting Snell has destroyed the pensioner's life. Once an independent and social woman, her encounter with Snell has stripped her of her confidence and irreparably damaged her mental health.
"It made me reel backwards with shock to know that a theft had taken place in my home ... It depressed me that this could have happened," she told the court.
In June 2013, the Herald reported that police were searching for a man who tricked his way into the 90-year-old woman's North Shore retirement home unit by posing as a Telecom maintenance worker.
In early April that year he knocked on the woman's door and said he had been sent to repair a faulty phone line. Once he'd convinced her to let him inside, he took her credit card and an eftpos card that belonged to her 93-year-old sister.
He later called the woman from a pay phone and managed to obtain the pin numbers to both cards. Then, between April 8 and May 9, he used the cards 108 times at cash machines around the Auckland area, withdrawing $49,180.
As soon as police began investigating, Snell was on their radar. According to court documents the 49-year-old has racked up 121 convictions since 1981, 56 of those for taking, obtaining or using documents or bank cards for pecuniary advantage and 25 for burglary. He also has convictions for theft, receiving stolen property, impersonating a police officer, assault and a raft of driving-related charges.
Snell first appeared in the Herald in 2003 after he stole $70,000 from more than 20 pensioners. Police dubbed him the "Wobbly Wheel burglar" because he told victims he'd noticed their car had a wobbly wheel, which he could fix.
He was jailed, but by 2007 he was back to his usual tricks, this time knocking on the doors of elderly women saying he'd seen sparks coming from their cars - or, armed with a clipboard and fluoro vest, that he was a council water tester.
After lifting their bank cards and leaving their homes, he would call them and pretend he was a local police officer, saying their cards had been handed in to their local station.
Minutes later he would call them back pretending to be a bank employee arranging a replacement card.
His youngest complainant was 78 and the oldest was 93. The women lost a total of $66,456 from 258 fraudulent withdrawals.
In November 2009 Snell was jailed again, this time for five years after being convicted on 12 charges of burglary and 34 of taking and fraudulently using bank and credit cards.
He was released on parole in April 2012, subject to a raft of conditions that were to remain in place until his sentence end date in July 2013.
A year later, he was back behind bars.
Snell initially faced more than 130 charges for his 2013 offending, but eventually pleaded guilty to three representative charges of dishonestly using a document, namely a bank card, and one of burglary.
After a series of delays he appeared in Auckland District Court for sentencing on April 9 and was sent back to prison.
"It is a consistent pattern of behaviour of yours to target vulnerable members of society," said Judge Nevin Dawson.
"It was scurrilous behaviour by any standard. Older people in our community should be protected by the rest of us so that they do not become victims of people who behave in such a scandalous manner as you did."
He said Snell's sentence needed to deter him from behaving in a "predatory manner".
"The gravity of your offending is high ... the offending was committed while you were on parole ... it was a severe abuse of trust.
"There was a high level of premeditation."
Judge Dawson said Snell had earned a 15 per cent reduction in jail time for pleading guilty but added 12 months for his "appalling conviction history".
He jailed Snell for two years and eight months, ordering him to serve half of the sentence before he could apply for parole.
Throughout sentencing Snell stood with his hand covering his face, trying to prevent the Herald from clearly photographing him.
He initially sought permanent name suppression, on the basis that publishing his details might negatively affect his family, who were in court to support him. He later withdrew his application.
"The public have a right to know given the offending on this particular occasion and given the type of people he has offended against ... you'd have to be described as a prolific offender," Judge Dawson said.
Victim's trust betrayed
The 90-year-old woman Snell stole from in 2013 was living in a North Shore retirement village and held power of attorney for her 93-year-old sister, who suffered from dementia and was being cared for at a resthome nearby.
For this reason, she had the 93-year-old's bank cards at her home.
Snell took them and pilfered more than $40,000 from their accounts.
The 93-year-old died in 2013 just before Snell was arrested. The sister was granted permanent name suppression by Judge Nevin Dawson.
But he gave the Herald permission to publish the victim impact statement which the younger of the two wrote for the court.
"I was upset to discover money had been taken from (my sister's) bank account ... It made me reel backwards with shock to know that a theft had taken place in my home," she wrote.
"I was particularly upset that my sister's cards in my care were taken and that money removed from her bank account. I felt I had let her down badly. It depressed me that this could have happened."
Her best friend of 40 years told the Herald Snell's "violation" had changed the victim's life forever.
"She will never forget it or get over it ... It has been very difficult for her. Until this happened she enjoyed her independence, used public transport, went shopping - she cared for herself. She has completely lost that now," said the friend.
"It has affected her social life, her confidence and trust is greatly diminished. She has become quite dependent on her friends. To her this event was completely incomprehensible ... she thought she could trust people.
"She was absolutely devastated to learn she had been betrayed by someone who she thought was there to help her."
Keep yourself safe
You can protect yourself by safeguarding your banking information. If you have older people in your family, make sure they are aware of the dangers of fraudsters and how they can protect themselves.
• Don't ever give your pin number out to anyone.
• Have the confidence to say no if someone is pressuring you for personal or banking information.
• If anyone knocks on your door claiming to be sent by a company, always ask for ID.
• If in doubt, ring the company to confirm the person is legitimate.
• If someone dodgy comes to your home, call the police.
Click here to contact The Investigators for more information and advice on protecting the elderly.
- Article originally on nzherald.co.nz.
