Kevin Larson arrested, charged with 31 counts of fraud after Stratford police investigation

Kevin Larson, a former prominent business owner in the city, was arrested and charged this week with 31 counts of fraud.

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Stratford police said Friday this recent investigation began in May 2023 after a complaint of fraud was made against Larson, who owned several restaurants and other commercial, financial and development businesses in Stratford and area.

Officers arrested the 37-year-old Stratford resident on Thursday afternoon at Stratford’s police headquarters. Larson was charged with 10 counts of fraud with a value more than $5,000 and 21 counts of fraud with a value less than $5,000 from a series of complaints from March 25, 2022, to Oct. 17, 2022, according to court documents.

He was released on an undertaking with a Feb. 10 short date.

Larson’s mounting legal troubles started when Ontario’s highest court upheld a Superior Court of Justice decision requiring him to pay a local builder more than $530,000 after being found in breach of contract and in breach of trust.

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In its written decision in February 2022, a three-person panel said Superior Court Justice A. Duncan Grace did not make an error in 2021 when he found Larson Properties Partnership Corporation and Larson, the company’s majority shareholder, legally responsible for debt owed to Feltz Design Build following work the contractor completed on a downtown Stratford pub and butchery in October 2019.

In April 2023, Larson was charged with one count of fraud after it was alleged he racked up $65,000 of debt by accessing his ex-partner’s bank account and credit cards without her knowledge over a three-year period.

Larson was arrested and charged Jan. 26, 2024, with nine counts of fraud with a value more than $5,000, nine counts of uttering a forged document and one count of false claims following a police investigation that began in February 2023.

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According to court documents at the time of that arrest, Larson allegedly defrauded one complainant in 2019 of more than $138,000 by using invested money without the complainant’s permission or knowledge. Larson also allegedly intended, through false pretence, to defraud a complainant of $1,600 around Dec. 1, 2023, documents showed.

In addition to the criminal charges, Larson – previously the owner of Larson Properties Partnership and Cooper Development Inc. and Larson Financial Solutions – has faced a raft of civil suits in six Ontario cities, including Stratford, from 2006 to 2024.

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