The Scam History of Moishe Alexander aka Sandy Hutchens

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Toront...79788-sun.html

Sat, April 2, 2005

Con man seeks mercy

RELIGIOUS CONVERSION REFORMED HIM, COURT TOLD

By SAM PAZZANO, COURTS BUREAU

A CON MAN and drug peddler who bilked a cancer survivor out of her business begged for a conditional sentence yesterday after saying he had converted to Judaism. Character witnesses, including Rabbi Mendel Kaplan and other congregation members and friends, praised Sandy Hutchens, 45, as a devout orthodox Jewish family man with three kids.

Hutchens pleaded guilty to four counts of fraud and another count of drug trafficking in prescription painkillers last spring in front of Justice Harry LaForme.

Hutchens' lawyer, Joseph DiLuca, said his client has rehabilitated himself and provided $55,000 in restitution and agreed to pay an additional $10,000.

But Hutchens' conversion and glowing character testimonials weren't believed by cancer survivor and widow J.M. Shaw or any of his other victims.

"He is a consummate actor and I believe will use this talent to convince the court that he is a reformed man," said the 59-year-old widow, whose business Hutchens offered to sell in December 2000.

Instead he scammed her out of $40,000.

Shaw said her husband, who succumbed to cancer in October 2003, spent his final months worrying about his family's financial well-being.

"Two doctors and a nurse told me the only explanation for my illness (cancer) was stress," she said in a heartfelt victim impact statement.

Shaw is now working 52 hours a week, having lost her "nest egg" -- the business she and her husband built. Meanwhile, Hutchens and his family enjoyed a Caribbean cruise this winter and his children attend private school.

Crown attorneys Ann-Marie Calsavara and Moiz Rahman are seeking 5 1/2 years for Hutchens, who has a criminal record spanning 20 years.

Hutchens, who also operated a paralegal firm called Tenants Right Co. and The Legal Network, also admitted that he defrauded three clients with landlord-tenant problems for more than $25,000.

The judge will sentence Hutchens on April 8.


21 rooming house tenants face eviction Residents offered palces to stay, manager says

By Joseph Hall Toronto Star
December 31, 1989
The Toronto Star

"I guess I'll just freeze to death," Curran said yesterday. He is one of 21 residents facing eviction on Tuesday from their Parkdale rooming house.

"How are you supposed to find a new place at this time of year? How am I going to pay for a truck to move when I have to give first and last month's rent?"

Curran, a former bar singer whose ulcers have put him on permanent disability, said he and his neighbors were given notice two days before Christmas that the sheriff's department would be taking over their apartments at 233 Sorauren Ave. in the Dundas St.-Lansdowne Ave. area.

The tenants, many of whom are on welfare, were told that the building's new owner had defaulted on mortgage payments, and that they had 10 days to get out.

"It was a real kick-in-the-pants Christmas present," said Curran, 47, adding proudly that he has never in his life missed a rent payment.

"I won't go to a hostel and I won't live in some hole, so what other choice do I have but the street?"

In the next apartment, Wilma Wintoneak, 50, and Minnie Roberts, her mother, said they face a future just as bleak.

Cramped rooms

"It's getting awful close to the street," said Wintoneak, who had to stop several times for breath as she spoke on the stairs leading to her cramped rooms.

"I was offered other accommodations, but they were up on Jane (St.) and my bank's here and my doctor's here and my mother's 74."

Sandy Hutchens, who said he sold the building in September and has since managed it, has offered all the tenants rooms in his other properties around Parkdale.

"I've told them that I will find them other places, but it's up to them whether they take them or not," said Hutchens, who manages about eight other buildings in the area.

"But I can't put a gun to their heads and make them go."

Hutchens said he sold the building to "a woman" who is "out of town this weekend" and that she defaulted to the Laurentian Bank of Canada.

He said he plans to buy the building back from the bank next week and may reoffer the current tenants their rooms.

But Toronto Councillor Chris Korwin-Kuczynski said he plans to investigate the actual ownership of the building.

Denied licences

Korwin-Kuczynski, councillor for Ward 2, said three of Hutchens' Parkdale buildings have been denied rooming house licences in the past few months and that there was a question of ownership in all three cases.

"I will also be asking the city's housing inspectors to immediately begin inspections of all buildings that have been registered to Mr. Hutchens either now or in the past," Korwin-Kuczynski said.

"I don't have time to try and wade through the ownership question. We have to find out what's going on in his buildings as soon as possible."

He said he wants to ensure the rooming house owner was not moving people back into buildings recently denied operating licences.

3) Turned out, he was more heel than hero:

Tenants win eviction reprieve Matter needs unravelling, judge decides

By Alfred Holden and Bob Mitchell Toronto Star
January 3, 1990
The Toronto Star

But a judge agreed with their lawyer that the matter needs more unravelling, and granted a 10-day stay on the serving writs of possession for mortgage holders, who want to sell the building empty of tenants.

"I'm just ecstatic. It's just the beginning of our fight, but it gives us some time," said Shirley Claxton, one of 21 residents who were shocked to learn Christmas Eve that they'd been paying rent but their landlord wasn't making payments on his mortgage.

The tenants' lawyer, Jean Hyndman, said she hopes to be able to negotiate with the mortgage holders so tenants can stay when the building is sold. She also plans to investigate some other legal avenues, she said.

Gray area

Under Ontario law, tenants' tenure is usually secure when buildings change hands.

But Hyndman said there is a gray area when foreclosure is involved, which has often seen tenants evicted when landlords go into default. Technically, the new landlord may not be obliged to keep existing tenants, she said.

"There should be a law that when you're paying rent to somebody, you're not out on the street if he's not paying his mortgage," Claxton said. "We've got to get a law to prevent people from doing this. One man's done it, and what's to stop others?"

Sandy Hutchens, who is listed as the owner of the property registered as 844645 Ontario Limited on the eviction notice, hasn't made any mortgage payments since June. When contacted by The Star earlier, Hutchens said he didn't own the building any longer.

The property's mortgage is held by three investors who used private pension monies to fund the mortgage.

Innocent but foolish

Henry Erlich, lawyer for the pension fund investors, said Hutchens owes about $16,000, maybe $20,000, with fees.

"The poor tenants are obviously innocent except for the fact that they've been very foolish. We gave them notice back in September that the owner wasn't making his payments and that they were going to be evicted," Erlich said.



Couple, firm charged in immigration fraud Filipinos, Romanians say jobs promised
by LILA SARICK
February 22, 1996
The Globe and Mail

A husband and wife who operated immigration consulting businesses in three countries have been charged with leading clients to believe they would receive jobs and visas in Canada.

Sandy Hutchens, 36, and his wife, Tanya, 29, of Aurora, Ont., were charged yesterday with fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud, conspiracy to aid and abet persons to enter Canada, and employment of an illegal alien. Their company, Gold Star Legal Services, had offices in Toronto, the Philippines and Romania, RCMP Constable John Simpson said.

In the Philippines, 107 individuals say they paid $1,500 each and were told that job offers and Canadian work visas would be arranged, police said.

A number of those who applied were registered nurses, who paid the equivalent of half a year's salary and quit their jobs believing they would soon be travelling to jobs in Canada, Constable Simpson said. Some wrote letters to the companies and persons they believed would be their new employers, introducing themselves and thanking them for the job offer.

Other individuals say they were told they would receive visas to study at a non-existent Christian academy in Gravenhurst, Ont., or to work as sewing machine operators or nannies, police said. About 25 Romanians reported paying a total of $50,000 for promises of jobs and visas.

However, the job offers were fictitious and the Canadian embassies were not prepared to issue the visas. None of the individuals were successful in entering Canada, Constable Simpson said.

Police estimate the alleged fraud at $240,000.

All three Gold Star offices have been closed and the manager of the Philippines office is facing local criminal charges, Constable Simpson said. He added that the Romanian office manager is in Canada, having travelled here to urge the Hutchens to resolve the problems.

The investigation began a year ago when Filipinos living in Canada and trying to become permanent residents made complaints to the Philippine consulate in Toronto.

The company began as a service to resolve landlord-tenant disputes and branched into immigration work a few years ago, Constable Simpson said.
October 4, 2001
Canada NewsWire

TORONTO, Oct. 4 /CNW/ - Officers from the Ontario Provincial Police, Drug Enforcement Section in cooperation with the OPP Anti-Rackets Health Fraud Investigation Team have charged a 54 year old Toronto physician and a 42 year old Thornhill paralegal.

Arrested and charged on October 3, 2001 were Sandy HUTCHENS, age 42 of Pico Crescent, Thornhill, Ontario and Doctor Ravi DEVGAN, age 54 of Redpath Avenue, Toronto, Ontario. HUTCHENS has a business office on Sheppard Ave. W. Toronto and DEVGAN operates his medical practice from his home on Redpath Ave.

HUTCHENS and DEVGAN are jointly charged with two counts of Conspiracy to traffic in a controlled substance, one count of trafficking in a controlled substance and one count of possessing a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking. HUTCHENS was held in custody pending a bail hearing and DEVGAN is scheduled to appear in the Ontario Court of Justice, Old City Hall on November 02, 2001.

The charges are the culmination of an investigation that commenced approximately one month ago into allegations that controlled substances were being illegally prescribed. There were search warrants executed in several locations in Toronto and Thornhill and amongst the items seized were 3,300 tablets of a controlled substance with an estimated street value of $33,000.

The investigation is ongoing.

The Anti-Rackets Health Fraud Investigation Team is a team of OPP

investigators dedicated to investigate on behalf of the Ministry

of Health and Long Term Care allegations of fraud relating to the

Ontario Health System.

/For further information: OPP Detective Staff Sergeant Keith Messham, Health Fraud Investigation Team, (705) 329-6411, 1-888-216-9817 (pager)/ 14:33 ET



Siri Agrell
STAFF REPORTER
October 6, 2001
The Toronto Star

A Toronto doctor who runs unorthodox cancer treatment clinics has been charged with trafficking in prescription narcotics.

Dr. Ravi Devgan, 54, was arrested Wednesday by OPP drug enforcement officers at the practice he runs from his home on Redpath Ave.

A Thornhill paralegal, 42-year-old Sandy Hutchens, was also arrested. The men were jointly charged with four counts related to trafficking narcotics.

The arrests came after a month-long OPP investigation involving the search of several locations in Toronto and Thornhill. Among the items seized were 3,300 tablets of opium-based painkillers with an estimated street value of $33,000.

Devgan, a general practitioner with a medical degree from the University of Toronto, also runs a clinic in Tijuana, Mexico.

The two clinics, jointly named Natural Therapeutics Ltd., offer alternative treatments such as acupuncture, colon detoxification and photodynamic therapy "the principles of light activism for the treatment of cancer," according to the clinic's Web site.

Devgan's practice has been the subject of controversy more than once in the past.

In May, 1996, Devgan was convicted of defrauding a female patient and an accountant of almost $300,000 and handed a 90-day sentence. He was also ordered to compensate his victims, but had the amount reduced under appeal and filed for bankruptcy.

He duped the patient into mortgaging her home and restaurant, enabling the doctor to obtain a $425,000 loan, which he used to pay off personal debts. The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario found him guilty of professional misconduct in his dealings with the patient. His sentence was a reprimand.

Also in 1996, Devgan was in the news when he treated a 10-year-old Texas girl who came to Toronto to avoid surgery for a life-threatening illness. Rachel Stout received homeopathic treatment at Devgan's Toronto clinic for acute ulcerative colitis, an inflammation of the colon that causes bleeding, diarrhea, and other serious problems.

After being treated at the clinic for one week, she was admitted to Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children and later ordered by a Dallas court to return to Texas.

In 1998, Devgan was among three Toronto doctors who began to treat cancer patients with a highly publicized controversial drug and vitamin mixture that Italian doctor Luigi Di Bella claimed was a "miracle" cure.

Italy's National Health Institute branded it a failure after doing state-run testing.



The Toronto Sun
May 8, 2004 Saturday Final Edition
SCAMMED FOR $40GS;
PARALEGAL INVENTS FICTITIOUS RUSSIAN TO BILK BUSINESSWOMAN
BYLINE: BY SAM PAZZANO, COURTS BUREAU

A POT-BELLIED paralegal admitted yesterday he invented a fictitious wealthy Russian immigrant in order to bilk a Toronto woman out of $40,000 from the sale of her business.

Sandy Hutchens pleaded guilty in front of Justice Harry LaForme to four counts of fraud and another count of drug trafficking in prescription painkillers.

Hutchens duped business owner Jacqueline Todd into believing he could broker a deal with a rich Russian immigrant named Sergie Schneider, said Crown attorney Ann-Marie Calsavara in reading an agreed statement of fact.

'THERE WAS NO DEAL'

"Schneider did not exist and there was no deal," said Calsavara.

Todd was selling Capital City Rent-All in December 2000. She initially wanted a price of $480,000, but Hutchens convinced her to up the asking price to $580,000 so that Schneider "could meet the $500,000 threshold for immigrant investment in Canada," said Calsavara.

They settled on a price of $520,000, with Hutchens getting $50,000 as a broker fee, court heard.

By the end of March 2001, the victim contacted her bank to stop payment on the last cheque for $10,000 because she still hadn't heard from Hutchens about the deal closing, court heard.

SENTENCING POSTPONED

Hutchens, who operated a paralegal firm called "Tenants Right Co." and "The Legal Network," also admitted he defrauded three clients with landlord-tenant problems of more than $25,000.

He also pleaded guilty to trafficking in painkillers in 2001 in a scheme involving a Toronto doctor and another man. Federal prosecutor Moiz Rahman said Hutchens was addicted to painkillers at the time and kept the drugs at his North York office.

Sentencing for Hutchens, 44, who attended with his visibly pregnant wife was postponed until Aug. 9.



The Toronto Sun
August 8, 2004 Sunday Final Edition
BILKING SENIORS HAS A PRICE TAG
BY MARK BONOKOSKI

TOMORROW, IT will finally be known what penalty a wolf in sheep's clothing will pay for bilking money from the often elderly unwary whose trust he had conned.

For that is when a shady paralegal named Sandy Hutchens will be sentenced by Superior Court Justice Harry LaForme, after pleading guilty in May to four counts of fraud and one count of trafficking in the prescription painkillers to which he had also become addicted, and almost two years from the day he was charged.

Justice travels at its own pace, arriving in the morning.

Sandy Hutchens, now 44, was first introduced here in October, 2002, although his name was not published in order to avoid any issue regarding contempt of court.

But the facts were laid out, and the facts held true.

Police had Hutchens pegged as a hit-and-run predator who laid his trap by professing to be a fighter for the underdog.

They had him running a bogus storefront paralegal operation in the city's north end, peppering apartments with flyers promising to fight rent hikes and landlord-tenant issues, and boasting of his ability to arrange loans as well as broker the sale of commercial properties.

"He was nothing but a cancer," said Det.-Const. Ed Malachowski, the 32 Division fraud-squad cop who busted him way back when. "And he was a cancer who had to be stopped.

"He couldn't have cared less about his victims.

"Once he had won their trust, they were done."

Back in May, Sandy Hutchens was in the newspapers again, this time when a Toronto doctor named Ravi Devgan was acquitted by a jury of trafficking in the highly potent painkillers which wound up in Hutchens' hands -- up to 10,000 pills a week, the court was told.

Once anonymous, now he was almost ubiquitous.

Back when Det.-Const. Ed Malachowski made his arrest of Hutchens, Toronto Police believed it was significant enough to put on the major occurrence sheet which is issued daily to media outlets across the city. But no newspaper picked up the story, nor did any radio or television station.

Frauds just don't sell. They seem benign, and glamourless.

But, as Malachowski will attest, frauds can also ruin lives, and push victims over the financial brink -- sometimes out of their business, sometimes out of their home.

Which is why he called Hutchens a "cancer."

In the biggest score to which Hutchens pleaded guilty, he invented a fictitious wealthy Russian immigrant named Sergei Schneider to bilk a Toronto woman out of $40,000 from the sale of her rent-all business. He also admitted to defrauding three clients with landlord-tenant problems of more than $25,000.

Months before Hutchens was busted, however, it was written here how a now 75-year-old retired bookkeeper named Murray Abshez wrote out a $50 cheque to a Toronto paralegal to help fight a rent increase in the Bathurst-Finch apartment building that had been his home for 30 years.

Abshez liked what he heard. He liked the paralegal's brochure -- "We fight for you! Don't delay, call us today" -- and he liked the fact he boasted of being in business since 1985.

And then he heard nothing.

He heard nothing because the man who took his money was a fly-by-nighter who had pulled up stakes and moved on to bigger and more lucrative endeavours.

When visited, there was junk mail piled up outside his storefront operation, and the phone was going unanswered.

So Murray Abshez went to the cops, and the cop he talked to was Det.-Const. Ed Malachowski, who started investigating and eventually came to Hutchens.

While it's not known if a charge was ever laid for Abshez's complaint, it was the 75-year-old's tenacity, and others, who launched the police probe.

And now all the pieces fit for tomorrow's sentencing.



Sat, April 9, 2005
Druggie repays victims
By SAM PAZZANO, COURTS BUREAU

A DRUG peddler and con artist who scammed a cancer survivor out of her business was slapped with a stay-at-home sentence with tough conditions yesterday. Justice Harry LaForme also ordered Sandy Hutchens, who blamed his crimes on his drug addiction, to perform 50 hours of community service warning groups about "the effects of drugs."

The 45-year-old father of three, who was also ordered to undergo random drug testing, repaid the full $65,803 he'd ripped off his fraud victims, including widow and cancer survivor J. M. Shaw.

LaForme rejected the prosecution's plea for a 4 1/2-year prison term for Hutchens, whose criminal record spans 20 years and who has five crimes of dishonesty. LaForme said Hutchens doesn't pose a danger to society.

"I'm very sorry. What I did was wrong," said Hutchens. "It was disgusting and terrible."

Hutchens, who converted to Orthodox Judaism in the last year, will also be monitored by Rabbi Mendel Kaplan, whom the judge called an "impressive (character) witness."

Hutchens, who has three young children by his wife Tanya, pleaded guilty last May to four counts of fraud and another count of drug trafficking in prescription painkillers. But he delayed the sentencing for 11 months, devoted himself to a new religion and has stayed drug-free.

"The court now has four years (including two years of probation) of supervision over my client, with strict curfews and drug tests," said his lawyer Lou Strezos. "If he got two years of prison, he'd be out in six months on parole."


Moishe's legal name may still be Sandy Hutchens; after, everything he has ever done has been a scam. I remember him when he was an ignorant bog-stock Irish criminal type, prone to making all kinds of racist remarks and lying through his teeth. (Please don't misunderstand me; most Irish are great!)
Again, if you GOOGLE "sandy hutchens jewish whistleblower" you can read about Sandy Hutchen's earlier career as a paralegal, slumlord, drug dealer and conman.
Or GOOGLE "Ripoff Report, 308 Elgin Street, Canadian Funding Corp."
Why numerous police agencies in the U.S. and Canada cannot nail this bastard is beyond me; I can only assume that they are working on it and will eventually succeed. The Toronto Police Services worked on this for years until Sandy's sudden appearance in court with his new religion, and muliple pleas of contrition. Renegade Judge Harry LaForme let him off (it is said), as he was leaving the bench anyhow to take up a rosy federal job, and wanted to make a personal statement, and to thumb his nose at the system. The present prime minister Harper has taken steps to remove activist judges, as he had promised.
Meanwhile, Canada (and the USA) is stuck with the social leper Sandy.