A shocking case in which a lonely, autistic man was plucked completely bald. This is how the Public Prosecution Service (OM) describes a case in which prison sentences were demanded against a Utrecht family today. According to the Public Prosecution Service, he lured the 67-year-old man into a trap via a dating site and extorted more than 1.7 million euros from him, reports RTV Utrecht.
The suspected fraud gang consists of seven people, who come from Utrecht, Driebergen and Antwerp. Five of them were in court today, they are all related. The victim is a man from Kampen. In July 2019, he thought he had found the love of his life in the then 17-year-old Kristina via a dating app.
Her relatives convinced him that he would eventually be allowed to marry the girl. The man became involved in the family’s lives for nine months, went on trips with them and also lived with them for periods. More and more often he was asked to pay for things.
According to the Public Prosecution Service, this started with small amounts, but the man soon had to pay large sums. For example, for the intended marriage. But he also paid for a trip to Disneyland Paris for the whole family and had to pay a large amount of money to ransom his lover from a pimp.
‘Played like a violin’
According to the Public Prosecution Service, these are all fabrications by the suspects to defraud the victim. “The victim was played like a violin by the suspects and went along with what they demanded,” the prosecutor explains. “He did this out of fear of losing what he thought was his great love.”
When the man no longer wanted to cooperate, the family became aggressive, according to the Public Prosecution Service. “There was violence, threats of violence, intimidation, numerical superiority and a degree of calculation that constitutes an outside category,” says the public prosecutor. The victim was allegedly grabbed by the throat, beaten, scratched and threatened with an axe.
He eventually sold his two houses. In total, the man was allegedly cheated out of 1.7 million euros, most of which was converted into gold bars. When the victim was robbed of all his money and belongings, he was left without a debit card and driver’s license in Spain in the middle of the corona lockdown.
According to the Public Prosecution Service, the man suffered not only financial damage, but also psychological damage. Experts say he suffered post-traumatic stress disorder. “For suspects, he was not a person, but an object with a pleasant amount of power that had to be plucked bare as quickly as possible,” says the public prosecutor. Today he demanded prison sentences of up to six years.
Demand: up to 6 years in prison
The highest sentence is against a 46-year-old woman. The Public Prosecution Service wants her to go to jail for six years. A 35-year-old from Utrecht would have to spend a year and a half in jail for his part. The Public Prosecution Service demanded two years in prison against two Belgian family members. The Public Prosecution Service also wants the suspects not to come near the victim for the next thirty years and to repay all the money. The criminal case against another suspect, who was a minor at the time, is being handled behind closed doors.
The case against the then 17-year-old girl, who had to pose as Kristina, has been dismissed. According to the Public Prosecution Service, the file shows that she was forced to cooperate and was beaten if she did not do so. Ultimately, she broke off contact with the suspects and went abroad.
It is not yet known when the court will make a ruling.
- Arrest in major scam: victim bilked for 1.7 million
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