Dozens of Montérégie campers recently realized to their dismay that they had had their golf cart stolen before their very eyes by a charlatan who had to store the vehicles for the winter season.
“In addition, we paid to be robbed. We are a gang to have been had, ”drops Claudia Vaillancourt angrily.
The 64-year-old lady is angry with herself for having been so easily enfirouaper, at the end of the camping season, last fall, at the Domaine international de Rouville.
Like dozens of campers there, she left her golf cart, worth about $10,000, on a stranger’s trailer.
This is a man who introduced himself to them, under the name of Eric Labreque, who allegedly orchestrated this theft of several hundred thousand dollars.
He had posted his services on Facebook and allegedly fooled the campers into believing that he was going to store their cart for the winter, for about $200.
“There are at least fifty [de campeurs] who have done business with him [à Rouville seulement]“, believes M.me Vaillancourt.
Gone
Several of them would have even disbursed surpluses in exchange for certain maintenance services, according to the testimonies collected.
“He asked us for the charger and the keys, to restore the kart to us in the spring”, specifies the sexagenarian, about the one who seems to have vanished.
Today, the phone number to reach Labreque is no longer active, and his Facebook page has disappeared. Just like carts, by the way.
Because when victims contact the manager of the warehouse where the charlatan said he had stored their golf carts, in Saint-Amable, it is not so. No cart storage would have been done there this winter. The manager would never have heard of this contract.
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Doubts
In addition, campers have already seen their property on various online resale platforms.
“I recognized her right away. But what do you want me to do?” wonders a second camper, who prefers to conceal his identity.
The latter believes that his car was shipped as far as Beauce, in Chaudière-Appalaches, and that the others may have been scattered across the province.
“From the start, I had my doubts. I was not the only one. It’s not for nothing that we took pictures. He asked a lot of questions about karts. The year, the model,” he says.
Courtesy picture
Here we see a masked man who came to get carts on a trailer, photographed by a customer who was already suspicious.
Other people would have, wrongly, trusted the thief, at the Lac des Pins campsite, in Saint-Antoine-Abbé, near the American border, in particular.
The Richelieu-Saint-Laurent Intermunicipal Police Board and the Sûreté du Québec of the MRC du Haut-Saint-Laurent confirm that investigations are underway.
“It is an evolving file. Several complainants tell us that their karts have been stolen. It may very well be that there are others, ”says Jean-Luc Tremblay, spokesperson for the Régie.
A memory
In addition to the monetary value of carts, some cheated campers say they are rather affected by the loss of property that sometimes has great sentimental value.
“It’s very emotional. It’s not the money I want, it’s the kart. It was my girlfriend’s kart. She walked around with it all the time. She was sick,” breathes Carol Boivin.
The 64-year-old resident of Granby lost his spouse to lung cancer just over a year ago at the age of 65.
Photo courtesy of Carol Boivin
One of the victims, Carol Boivin, and his now deceased spouse, in the souvenir cart he had stolen.
The cart is one of the memories he kept of his late better half.
“She was worth $12,000. We paid $200 to have it stored. In the end, it was a scam,” laments Mr. Boivin.
Desolation
If some victims will recover a sum of money from their insurance, others will not have this chance.
“I am angry and sad because I know that not everyone will be able to buy a new one. [voiturette]added another victim, on condition of anonymity.
For its part, the Domaine international de Rouville says it is sorry that its seasonal workers have been victims of this theft. He specifies that he did not recommend the individual to his campers.