Devon and Somerset Trading Standards prosecutes John Carroll and John Rice In this feature | scams | money laundering | suspect who went to ground Hide &seek A rogue trader who defrauded 21 elderly victims out of 108,000 over almost two years has been jailed. But the hardest part of the case was tracking him down, as Amy Chapman explains S ometimes, greed gets the better of people. This is what happened when one rogue trader convinced someone else to launder money from his rogue business, bringing an account that had previously held 100 to 27,000 in a matter of weeks and bringing him to the attention of the authorities. What then came to light was a complex case involving scams targeting elderly and vulnerable people, money laundering and a suspect who went to ground. following the money Carroll convinced Rice to launder money from his rogue business, bringing an account that had previously held 100 to 27,000 in a matter of weeks It was the suspicious activity of the huge payments into the account thatcaused bank staff to become suspicious and report the matter tothepolice, who in turn alerted Devon and Somerset Trading Carroll Standards and the National Trading Standards Regional Enforcement constantly Team South West. changed phone The primary objective in the case was to identify the account holder. number, used We knew the payments had been made by people in the South West of false names England for work to their homes, so an investigation began to find out and addresses, what work had been carried out and who was responsible for it. and didnt The bank account was in the name of John Rice from Swansea, and tell customers it was believed he had not left the south Wales area to deal with those about their who paid sums into his account. Rice made no comments during an interview, and when police cancellation officers searched his home address, they did not identify any rights co-defendants or instruction from others. However, they discovered details of another account and two more payments from consumers insouth Devon. It was some months after the investigation commenced that we identified John Carroll as a suspect from intelligence links, including aphone bought in his name being in regular contact with Rice. CCTV from places KEY LEarNINgS where the mobile was topped-up matched The benefit of liaison and working with a Carrolls description, and one of the vehicles financial investigator is huge. If money used when topping up was registered in his laundering is suspected or confiscation is name. likely, then account monitoring orders are Carroll, who is from Cricklade, traded as a great tool JW Contractors, Westfield Roofline, Property Care Roofing and Building, and Torbay Telecoms data can be invaluable and Roofing and Building. He touted for business its important to act quickly on this front, for by cold-calling his victims and advertising example when a suspect is spotted on CCTV in local newspapers. He gave the impression at a specific location of being a respectable trader by paying for Sadly, a couple of victims died before the telephone numbers with local dialling codes, case concluded. This highlighted the benefit which diverted to his mobile phone. of getting personal statements from victims, Carroll would frequently give a quote and bank and medical authority forms signed and then, as the work progressed, claim he had special measure forms filled in when written identified extra problems. Victims often statements or video recorded interviews are found themselves handing over thousands first obtained from the victim of pounds more than was originally agreed. Thereal value of the work was often a fraction A specific case log makes life much easier of the sum charged, while some work had not because all information relating to the case been done at all. is then in one place. Knowing where first All 21 of his victims were elderly and descriptions were recorded was tough in our case because many of the initial enquiries all said that the work was shoddy and with victims had been made by the police overpriced. In one instance, a man from prior to trading standards taking the lead Newton Abbot paid 7,500 for work worth just 170. This case also highlighted the importance Witnesses added that Carroll constantly of deciding when the time is right to draw changed phone number, used false names a line. Our offending period ended in May and addresses, and didnt tell them about 2014; however, Carroll was continuing to their cancellation rights. This ensured that commit offences and was on the radar he could not be traced and customers were of other trading standards services. We left with no way to change their minds, no took the decision that locating Carroll and comeback and a work guarantee that was not strengthening the case we already had was the priority, rather than continuing to gather worth the paper it was written on. In one case, evidence from more victims he conned an elderly lady out of more than 12,000 over three months to carry out work on her roof, which supposedly had a 15-year guarantee. The lady contacted Carroll three weeks later to complain it was leaking. Carroll claimed that the leak wasnt because of his work and convinced her to pay a further 3,800 tofix it. on the run Customers were left with no way to change their minds, no come back and a work guarantee that was not worth the paper it was written on Carroll was never found onsite by the police or trading standards officers, so identification was a problem. However, we were able to run known but not arrested ID procedures, which strengthened our case against him because five people out of seven positively identified him. We tried on numerous occasions to contact Carroll to invite him in for interview, and multiple arrest attempts were made at his parents home address in south Wales and the caravan in Wiltshire where his wife and children lived. But all our attempts at contact were unsuccessful, with the occupants being less than cooperative. Markers were put on Carrolls vehicles but, by the time they were stopped, he was no longer the registered keeper. We became aware of new telephone numbers used by Carroll and called numbers showing recent contact with him. These included advertising companies and recent victims, which helped identify the new names he was trading under. Thanks to assistance from police, we had access to telecoms data, including cell site analysis* so we could establish the geographical location of Carrolls phone. Thanks to the associated money laundering case, we also had access to financial orders, so we were able to use financial records to show Carrolls location. This helped massively in placing him in the same location as his victims, which was significant because they were situated across the South West and south Wales. Because of the money-laundering aspect, we also had production orders, which meant we could access bank statements that we used to identify further victims, helping build the case against Carroll. Prior to using Rices bank account, Carroll had used his own so there were a large number of victims paying monies directly into his account. It was an account monitoring order that eventually led to Carrolls arrest. We received daily activity on the account, liaised with local police forces that collected CCTV on our behalf, identified Carrolls current vehicle and placed a stop marker on it. When it was stopped, Carroll was arrested and street bailed** to attend Exeter Crown Court. These orders were only available through the money laundering aspect of the case, but are worthwhile using if you suspect money laundering, or if confiscation is likely. The sentence The length of time it took to locate Carroll and get him to court meant we had plenty of time to build a strong case and were able to charge him following his first bail attendance and interview. We used hand-writing analysis to help demonstrate Carrolls involvement in writing the invoices. The local CID and scenes of crime officer teams helped THE ImPorTaNCE of advise us on how to go about analysing ParTNErSHIP handwriting samples. The results showed The case was managed by the National Trading there was very strong evidence to suggest Standards Regional Enforcement Team South Carroll was the author. This appeared to be West, which gave huge assistance and resource the evidence that swayed the case, because to Devon and Somerset Trading Standards. once it had been served, Carroll changed his Not only was communication between the pleas to guilty. two teams of utmost importance, but also the When the court looked at the fraudwillingness of the regional enforcement team to sentencing guidelines, Carrolls responsibility support was invaluable. was in section A high culpability and Devon and Cornwall, Avon and Somerset and South Wales police services continued to ticked almost every factor, including offer assistance when required. We were also involvement of others through pressure fortunate enough to have a seconded detective or influence, a large number of victims sergeant within trading standards, which meant and deliberate targeting on the basis of we had access to police systems and tools. vulnerability. In terms of harm, the figure placed the case just within Category 2 (loss caused or intended between 100,000 and 500,000). However, when taking into account how this affected the victim, the crimes were considered high impact because of the serious harm caused and vulnerability of the those involved this pushed the impact into the middle of Category 2, giving the court a sentencing range of between three and six years. On 23 May 2017, Carroll was sentenced in his absence he had admitted himself to hospital to three years and two months, reduced from four years because of his guilty plea. Rice pleaded guilty to money laundering and was jailed for 12 weeks. In one instance, a man from Newton Abbot paid 7,500 for work worth just 170 *Cell site analysis is a means of establishing the geographical location of a mobile phone when calls, SMS messages or downloads are sent or received **Street bail enables a person arrested for an offence (or taken into the custody of a police officer after an arrest) to be released on bail by a police constable on condition that they attend a police station at a later time. Credits Amy Chapman is a financial investigator and trading standards officer at Devon, Somerset and Torbay Trading Standards Service. Images: iStock.com / caracterdesign To share this page, in the toolbar click on You might also like The snake oil salesman July 2017