Burlington, Ontario’s Gareth West arrested in Quebec by RCMP

Gareth West, 38, of Burlington, Ontario, Canada is the ringleader of a $30 million scam network that victimized seniors across 46 states in the United States. He, Andrew Tatto, 43, of Pierrefonds, Quebec, Canada, Jimmy Ylimaki, 35, of Notre-Dame-de-l’Île-Perrot, Quebec, Ricky Ylimaki, 31, of Notre-Dame-de-l’Île-Perrot, Stephan Moskwyn, 42, of Pierrefonds and Usman Khalid, 36, of Les Coteaux, Québec managed call centers in an around Montreal, Quebec.

Between the summer of 2021 and June 4, 2024, West, Tatto, Jimmy, Ricky, Moskwyn, Khalid and 19 other Canadians allegedly engaged in a scam involving phone calls made from the call centers. In 2022, the Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Sûreté du Québec started investigating the scam.

Four of the suspects namely Justin Polenz, 34, Nicholas Shiomi, 42, Richard Frischman, 31, and Ryan Melanson, 27, are Montreal residents and three others namely Antonio Iannacci, 33, David Arcobelli, 36, Michael Filion, 45, and Sebastian Guenole, 30, are Pierrefonds residents. Two suspects namely Jonathan Massouras, 35, and Sara Burns, 31, are Dollard-Des Ormeaux, Quebec residents

Vaudreuil-Dorion, Quebec residents Kassey-Lee Lankford, 28, and Ryan Thibert, 37, are among the suspects. The other suspects are Adam Lawrence, 41, of Lasalle, Québec, Jonathan Ouellet, 29, of Saint-Eustache, Québec, Joy Kalafatidis, 31, of Pointe-Claire, Québec, Michael Farella, 29, Sainte-Geneviève, Québec, Nicolas Gonzalez, 27, of Kirkland, Québec, Ryan Bridgman, 37, of Deux-Montagnes, Québec and Stephanie-Marie Samaras, 29, of Laval, Québec.

On February 20, 2025, a federal grand jury in Vermont, USA indicted the suspects. On March 4, 2025, all of the suspects except West and Jimmy were arrested in Canada.

That day, when police officers went to the house where West was staying, it was being renovated and he was not there. They went to a nearby rental home where he was also staying but he was nowhere to be found, a source told CBC.

On July 4, 2025, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrested West in Quebec at the request of U.S. officials. He could face up to 40 years in prison if extradited to the U.S. and convicted.

On July 5, 2025, West appeared in Quebec Superior Court in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec. Meanwhile, Jimmy is still at large.