Man charged in connection to fraudulent trailer sales: Edmonton police
Posted February 7, 2024 6:47 pm.
Edmonton police say one man has been charged in connection to a series of frauds involving commercial trailer sales online, and officers are now seeking additional trailers that were sold.
EPS says between November 2022 and January 2024, police received 21 reports relating to the fraudulent sales of commercial trailers.
The ads and purchases included Super B, hopper, hi-boy and flat deck trailers.
Police say in each incident, the trailer was posted for sale in an online marketplace, and once the sale was complete, the buyer was instructed to come to a lot to retrieve their new trailer. However, the buyer would then learn later that the trailer was fraudulently posted for sale online and had been reported stolen by its rightful owners.
EPS says more than $920,000 worth of trailers were fraudulently listed for sale. They also note that 13 of the 21 trailers sold have been recovered.
In Oct. 2023, EPS took 31-year-old Rayne Bernard Bart into custody.
Bart is facing 23 charged including a traffic safety act offence, fraud, theft, forged documents, and breaching conditions of a release order.
“At this time, we believe there may be additional stolen trailers that were sold to unsuspecting buyers,” says Const. Cassandra Grant with EPS West Branch Patrol.
“As a result, we are releasing information related to Mr. Bart’s sales, in hopes that anyone who has been defrauded and/or has had a similar type of trailer stolen comes forward to police.”
It is believed most of the trailers were posted on Kijiji and Facebook Marketplace. Police note they were typically listed for sale in Calgary and Edmonton.
EPS says Bart also used several aliases for his ads, including Ray Ford, Victoor Rapall, and Ben L’Smith.
Anyone who believes they may have been victimized by Bart is asked to contact EPS at 780-423-4567 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
