A repeat fraudster who rented cabins that did not exist or that he did not own faces 39 charges, a big relief for the dozens of people he allegedly led away.
“Ah, wow, that feels good, reacted Margareta Curuci, who would have lost $ 500 at the expense of Kevin Goulet in May 2020. I know he did that to a lot of people. I myself am in a Facebook group and we tried to warn a lot of people.
“We can say that justice has been done,” said Ben Boumahdi, from Blainville, who hopes to one day receive a refund for his lost $200.
The 30-year-old man is accused of having defrauded at least forty people to extract sums not exceeding $5,000.
The alleged facts, which would have taken place almost everywhere in Quebec, would have occurred between February 18, 2020 and October 18, 2021.
As the accused is already detained for other cases, he was conspicuous by his absence during his appearance at the Saint-Jérôme courthouse on Monday morning.
The Crown opposed his release in this case given the large number of charges. His bail hearing will take place on March 10.
Photo taken from Facebook
The accused Kevin Goulet who faces 39 counts.
deja vu
In 2017, Goulet was sentenced to just under 4 years in prison for having fraudulently collected money through the rental of luxury chalets, in particular.
This con man didn’t take long to get back to his old ways, even when he was on parole. He had returned behind bars momentarily after a Journal report in the summer of 2020 reported that he had cracked down on social media taking advantage of the cottage craze due to the pandemic.
“A lot of vacations have been scrapped because of him, it’s really dog. […] Most people were not reimbursed because it was an Interac transfer, ”recalled Maniève Belleau, who was able to be reimbursed $ 300 by Paypal.
Victims reported losing money by making a deposit on a cottage, with an elaborate scheme including a fake rental contract. These properties, however, were fictitious or did not belong to the accused.
In September 2020, in a decision that highlights Goulet’s compulsive lies, the Parole Board of Canada had also pointed out that the accused had used the same email address to communicate with her as with one of her victims. .
Already under the magnifying glass of several police forces, Goulet was finally arrested on February 4 by the Sûreté du Québec, under a warrant from the Granby police.
“I’m really glad the police ended up arresting him, this guy has done so many dozens and dozens of victims. It had to stop,” said a man, who requested anonymity. He had to make an $850 deposit for a cottage that didn’t even exist.