A Vancouver man is facing a host of charges after being arrested in a major fraud investigation by West Vancouver police.
Police launched their investigation in April 2020 after a resident reported having a computer hard drive stolen from his car on the 1800 block of Bellevue Avenue. Soon after, the victim began receiving threatening emails, demanding money in exchange for the hard drive.
West Vancouver’s major investigations team sought out warrants and court orders to obtain computer info and tracked down the suspect at his Vancouver home. Kristopher Joyce, 38, was arrested on March 30.
He was also found to be in possession of multiple stolen ID cards belonging to other Metro Vancouver victims, stolen computer components, drugs and other pieces of stolen property, according to police. Victims were identified as far away as California.
The Crown has now sworn 11 charges against Joyce including one count each of extortion, identity theft, and possession of stolen property. He is also charged with five counts of dealing with identity documents without lawful excuse and two counts of personation with intent to gain advantage.
“These charges are as a result of excellent police work conducted by our detectives,” said Insp. Scott Findlay. “Canadians lose millions of dollars each year to fraud, and we intend to do our part to hold criminals accountable.”
Thankfully, the West Vancouver victim did not face any financial losses in the case, according to Const. Kevin Goodmurphy.
“We encourage anyone who feels they are being targeted by someone trying to extort them, to contact the police,” he said.
Online court documents show Joyce has also gone by the aliases Mark Glover and Chris Kattner.
He is due back in court on May 26.
