A senior, wanted by Sarnia police on a warrant in connection with a series of frauds involving local residents during about a year, was arrested Friday, but new charges have been added after a suspect sped from officers twice this week to avoid arrest, police say .
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Sarnia police said Wednesday they were searching for a man in his 60s who approached people and asked for gas money to get to the hospital as his wife was there amid an alarming medical crisis. The claims were false but persuasive, police said.
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“These emotional and high-pressure approaches toward citizens have occurred in public spaces and by knocking on the doors of private residences,” police said. “They can be very persistent in nature and coercive in compelling people to give him money.”
A warrant was issued for Bernd Adamek, 65, who was wanted for three counts of fraud worth less than $5,000 and four counts of breaching probation, police said. Police issued a description of Adamek and said he usually drives a silver Nissan Murano.
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In an update Friday, police said they attempted to stop a suspect Wednesday shortly after 8 pm near Finch Drive and Wellington Street, but he fled – reaching speeds of 120 km/h – and officers stopped the pursuit out of safety concerns. Officers tried to stop a suspect again around 10 pm Thursday on Indian Road near Talfourd Street, but he fled, police said, by “blowing through a stop sign with no regard for the safety of other vehicles or pedestrians.”
Officers called off the pursuit. The suspect was finally arrested Friday.
Adamek was brought briefly into a Sarnia courtroom Friday afternoon, where he was kept in custody and the case was adjourned to Monday. The updated list of charges includes five counts of fraud worth less than $5,000, two counts each of flight from police and dangerous driving, and a dozen counts of breaching probation, police said.
The charges haven’t been tested in court.
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