Earlier this month, Alfredo DeSanto was on his daily walk in his Maple, Ont., neighbourhood when an Acura SUV with tinted windows stopped along the street.
“They pulled over and were asking for directions to a church,” Alfredo said.
He was unable to hear them clearly, so he walked closer to the SUV to find a man in the front seat and a woman in the back, and both rolled down their windows. The man began to tell him that they were giving away gold rings and neck chains.
“Then the man started putting these rings in my hand. The woman had the necklaces and started putting one around my neck,” Alfredo said.
Alfredo tried to say he wasn’t interested but said they were very persistent and talking fast.
“Then when the woman was putting her chain on my neck, she took the one I was wearing and then the car took off,” he said. “It was fast, my arm was bruised because it was still in the window when they drove away.”
It was then Alfredo noticed his neck chain was gone. He immediately went home to tell his wife.
“I was just devastated. I’ve been sick for the whole week. I can’t eat, I can sleep,” his wife, Sara, said. “It’s not the chain I am worried about, it’s the heart that was attached to it.”
Sara wears an identical chain. The silver heart attached contains some of the ashes of their son, Frankie, who passed away at the age of 41.
“We had these specially made with his ashes, so for them to take it is heartbreaking,” she said. “Frankie was a beautiful man, a wonderful son and father and we both wore these necklaces as we felt we always had a part of him with us. Those ashes mean everything to me. Even if it’s just a little part in there, it means everything.”
Alfredo is the latest victim in an ongoing jewellery distraction crime spree.
“What these people do is try to entice you with some nice jewellery, they’ll ask about your jewellery, and before you know it, they have your jewellery in their hand and they’ve left,” said York Regional Police Const. Lisa Moskaluk.
Several other victims of this type of crime have reached out to Speakers Corner in recent days, including Brampton resident Davina Ramirez who said her mother was approached by a similar SUV.
“She was approached by two females in a dark SUV/jeep,” Davina told CityNews. “They said they wanted to give her something and placed a big gold necklace and bracelet on her wrist and oddly $20, then they drove away quickly. Not until she retuned home, did she explain what happened, then I realized this was a bait-and-switch — while putting on the fake jewellery they removed her personal necklace and bracelet.”
Police agencies across the GTA have sent out warnings about this type of crime.
“It usually picks up in the warmer months,” Const. Moskaluk said. “They are looking for people out on a walk and they are very good at distracting the victim long enough to take their personal items.”
Moskaluk said all cases reported are taken seriously but the case of the DeSanto couple, in particular, is heart-wrenching.
“For this poor family, I can’t even imagine how much they must be hurting right now. We are investigating and sent officers out soon after this was reported to look for the vehicle in question,” she said.
As police investigate, the DeSanto couple is going public with their story in the hopes either the criminals behind this, or people who may come across their silver heart if it’s sold somewhere, turn it in.
“No questions asked,” Sara said. “Please, send that heart back even if they send it to your TV station anonymously or police it doesn’t matter just send it back to me.”
The heart has a specific inscription on one side of it.
“On one side, it says ‘he has him in his arms. I have him in my heart.’” Sara said.
If anyone can help, contact Speakers Corner or the York Regional Police non-emergency line at 1-866-876-5423 and mention incident number 25-119294. If you wish to remain anonymous, you can also contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.
In the meantime, police and this couple say be weary of anyone stopping you on your walk.
“I thought I was being nice and helping these people but they are truly heartless,” Alfredo said. “Just walk away from anyone trying to get you to their car, don’t go for it, please.”
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