Calgary con artist facing nearly 400 new fraud charges may have bail revoked

The Alberta Crown wants bail revoked for ascam artist with a long record of convictions who now faces a staggering 399 new fraud-related charges involving five people in the Strathmore area, east of Calgary.

Jane Elizabeth Mooreappeared in court in Strathmorevia closed-circuit televisionon Tuesday morning. She made no other comments other than to acknowledgeto the court that she was Jane Elizabeth Moore.

"Yes, I am," she said.

The 82 charges she wasfacing Tuesday were put over to Sept. 18. New information that includes 317 fraud-related charges will also be heard on that date.

The new charges were laidrecentlywhile Moore was out on bail facing charges related to allegations of an $84,000 fraud involving alleged victim Rick McDonough of Langdon, about 27 kilometres southwest of Strathmore.

Moore is also accused of using fraudulent bank and court documents, uttering death threats and threatening to burn down a woman's house inthe same area, in WheatlandCounty.

'I thought it was golden'

McDonoughsaidhe first met Moore in early 2016, when she used the name Jane Seaman.

According to McDonough, Moore told himshe was waiting for a $36.8-millioninheritance from the family of the late Daryl (Doc)Seaman, a former owner of the Calgary Flames who died in 2009.

"She presented a document that looked like it was written on a piece of bank paper like the colouring and everything was perfect," claimedMcDonough.

McDonough saidhe took a picture of the document and phoned the bank to confirm its authenticity.

He saidsomeone at the bank told him it sounded legitimate, but the bank employee who apparently signed the letter was on holidays and couldn't be reached.

"I just kind of left it at that and took it as being legit.I thought it was golden," said McDonough.

McDonoughalleges he proceeded to give Moore more than $84,000 in cash and email transfers between January 2016 and July2016, with amounts rangingfrom $44 to $12,000.

'I trust anybody and everybody'

McDonough said Moore was likeable, friendly and nice.

"She could probably talk her way out of anything," he added.

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McDonough saidhe even went to two banks in Strathmore with Moore when she was opening new accounts. He believed Moore was about to receive the multimillion-dollar inheritance and that he would get all of his money back.

But his son and brother urged him to stop making payments to Moore.

"I got a problem with that.I trust anybody and everybody," said McDonough.

Moore was arrested June 27 and released on bail. None of these allegations have been proven in court.

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Since then, four more people have come forward claiming they too fell victim to Moore's alleged schemes.

Two of the alleged victims claim they were rentingaproperty to Moore in the Strathmore area. Police information shows 246 fraud charges involving $172,205.22.

The money was allegedly transferred to Moore between December2016 and June2017.

One of the alleged transactions involved $2,000 and occurred on June 27, the same dayMoore was arrested in relation to the McDonough matter.

The other two alleged victims claim to have lost $106,000 in 66 separate transactions between August2016 and June2017.

Convictions dateback 14 years

Moore has been in and out of courtrooms in Calgary, Okotoks and Strathmore for years.

Her first conviction was registered in 2003. She was given a suspended sentence and put on probation for two years for fraud, uttering a forged document, failing to attend court and breaching a court order.

There have been at least 100 more convictions since then, most involving fraud, uttering forged documents, fraudulent use of credit cards and theft.

She's been deceivingpeople and businesses for more than a decade, andsome of her victims were fired for falling for the scams.

In 2010, she was sentenced to two years for 77 fraud- and theft-related charges.

A court-ordered report suggested Moore has a history of behavioural problems dating back to when she was in elementary and junior high school, when she allegedly started lying and stealing from people.

She once told people she had leukemia, according to a psychiatric evaluation of Moore at the Southern Alberta Forensic Psychiatry Centre.

Lied to her own family

In 2001, Mooreconvinced her own family that she suffered from a sometimes deadly disease that required numerous injections and caused bleeding from her eyes and ears, according to the court report.

In a2010 pre-sentence report, Moore's adoptive parents said their daughter was addicted to prescription pain killers from 1995 to2005.

According to the report, Moore admitted to using a needle to poke her eyeand her nose or ears, causing them to bleed.

Her parents believed the story and treated their daughter with up to 13 injections a day, the report stated.

Moore's father, Robert, refused to comment when contacted by CBC and said "please don't call me again."

Jane Elizabeth Moore was married to a Calgary police officer for less than a year. During their short marriage, Moore was convicted of "personating a police officer." ("Personating," not "impersonating," is the official criminal charge).

The report ruled out the possibility that Moore suffers from "any psychiatric disturbance of a psychotic kind," but said she should be diagnosed with prominent traits of borderline and antisocial personality disorder.

McDonough is holding out hope that he may get some of his money back.

But he said he wanted to speak publicly to try to prevent anyone elsefrom falling victim to Moore.

His advice for anyone who may encounter the 42-year-old woman in the future?

"Stay away."

Moore is also accused of threatening tokill McDonough's son and brother. Those charges will also be heard on Sept. 18.