In the paper again...

 http://www.theprovince.com/news/Online+date+scammer+Wesley+Devries+sues+federal+government+over/10827904/story.html

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/criminals-wesley-devries-yong-long-ye-sue-over-lack-of-prison-programs-1.2963684

http://www.theprovince.com/news/Exclusive+Interview+Fraudster+Devries+found+easy+scam+women+online/8979526/story.html


I thought that I would at least have until July to pretend that Wes Devries didn't exist anymore but here he is popping up in the news again.  I am not sure whether the lawsuit will result in changes made to the system but I can't imagine Wes suing the government if it didn't involve financial gain for himself.  And maybe he should just use some of the money he scammed from people to buy himself some therapy sessions if he is interested in trying to become a better person.  By his own admission to one of his victims he was proud that he has scammed over 1.3 million over the years.  By my calculations he scammed over $40,000 just from April to August of 2013.  And that is calculated just using the numbers from the people who were brave enough to come forward and press charges against him.

I wish there was a rehabilitation program for socioopaths but unfortunately there is no way to 'fix' that type of individual.  And I don't think that means that we should ever give up on anyone but Wes has never seemed truly interested in becoming a better person according to anyone I have talked to that has known him.  He is about the game.  He has had plenty of opportunities to become a productive member of society and has never chosen to do so.  One would hope that with children in the world that would be the ideal time to turn your life around and set a positive example for them but even that didn't make him change anything about his lieng, scamming ways.  He said he didn't bother to apply for parole because he wasn't able to get into a program and thus show that he was interested in reforming himself. I believe that his motive for waiving his parole application was that he didn't want to be so closely monitored when he was out of prison.  If he serves his full term until July 2015 he will be under less strict restrictions.  Also, I think that he is hoping that people will forget about him by then and he can run whatever his new scam will be.  It is way more interesting to him to try out new scams than to live a simple life of finding a regular job and living a regular life.

 In my opinion the problem with our justice system is not that people like Wes don't get access to programs in prison in time for their release, but rather that people like Wes are not spending enough time in prison for their crimes.  Even for this last conviction, he had 14 charges against him and if his sentence wasn't made concurrent it would have added up to a 37 year sentence and he would have spent about 12 in prison.  That would be plenty of time for him to receive proper programs and therapy.

I hope that the courts don't see any merit in this particular case because I am sure it is just another scam by Hurricane Wes.  I do think that there needs to be fair access to rehabilitation programs in prison but more important reform should be done on sentencing first.

Feel free to email me at wesscammedmetoo@hotmail.com if you have questions or comments about Wes.

Arrested!

I will write a full post on this later tonight but thought I should put a link in to the article at least....

http://www.theprovince.com/news/vancouver/Serial+scammer+behind+bars+following+undercover+police/8739383/story.html

Thank-you to everyone for all the love and support during all of this.

Update on Hurricane Wes Devries

 So much has happened since the articles in The Province Newspaper;

http://www.theprovince.com/news/could+talk+fleas+messed+with+wrong+girl/8612967/story.html

http://www.theprovince.com/news/Police+mount+investigation+against+alleged+scammer/8618362/story.html

Just found this and thought I would share:

 http://bb.nsmb.com/showthread.php?p=2768370

Apparently since we have put a dent in the potential victim pool for his 'dating' scams he had to move on to other things.  Here are a few more things to keep in mind, not necessarily about Wes but in general;

- Be very careful who you allow to access your house, anyone from a new friend or potential love interest to a handyman or possible buyer of your goods from craigslist.  Once someone has access to your place they can easily assess what is valuable and where it is kept.
- Secure all bikes when leaving them unattended, even if it is for a short period of time.  I would suggest that you even lock them up when inside a secure area such as a garage
- It is ALWAYS a bad idea to do any financial favors for any reason for someone you don't know very well.  But if you happen to be so 'stupid' to do this, as I was, be aware of what your bank's policies are. Because of my ignorance in banking lingo and no clarification given by 2 different RBC reps I was scammed for $2700.


I have decided that since I have done more towards warning people about Wes Devries than I ever thought I could that it is now up to the universe to balance out all the wrongs he has done.  For awhile I felt like this whole situation was taking over my life...  and while I realize that it is going to be a super long and frustrating process until this is all concluded, my head is in such a better place than it was even a month ago.  It's hard to admit that I misjudged someone.  It was definitely hard to put my giant, costly mistake on display for everyone to judge me on.  It was hard to read the comments about how 'stupid' I am.  It was hard to forgive myself for making the mistakes I made in this whole situation.  And I will fully own those mistakes.  But I have also learned from those and in the process I have also learned a lot about myself and how strong and persevering I am.   And how many more other strong women are out there too.

25 victims and counting....

 This hasn't been easy for me.  I am a fairly strong person but admitting that I was scammed and publishing the huge mistake I made for all to see has been taxing on me.  I am oddly okay with the money being gone - I've never been someone who lived my life based on money or material things.  But the part of this that has really stuck with me and bothers me is the psychological games he plays with his victims.  I have knowledge of at least 25 victims over the past 10 year period.  I have spoken with many past victims of Wes' since starting this blog and the theme is always the same.  After he steals your money he tries to convince you that he wants to change and that he has guilt and remorse for what he has done and will pay you back.  What I have noticed is that the people he picks to prey upon all have amazingly giving hearts and for awhile believe his story.  Smart women who then realize they have been robbed not only of their money but of their trusting natures.  It is hard when you have been taken advantage of to trust yourself again.

I have been thinking lately about how his children will feel when they see this blog someday.  I feel bad for them.  For those of you that know me, you know that children are a main focus in my life and I would hate to do anything that might cause them pain.  All I can hope is that by me writing this blog and informing people about Wes that it causes him to seek some help and stop his 20+ year run of victimizing people.  He hasn't learned any lessons in jail because the moment he is out he starts scamming people again.  I am not sure there is any therapy or consequence that will cause him to change his ways but I hope for his childrens' sakes that eventually he does.

He seems to have a lot of friends around town.  I am not sure if these people are aware of his scams or not.  But if they are, and they think that it just doesn't effect them and that he is otherwise a good guy, one day he will get desperate enough to screw them over too.   The pattern has been that the closer he is to a person the more he has scammed them.  You might be thinking that myself and the other people scammed by him deserve it in a way for being so stupid.  I guess that's true to a point - he is a master manipulator and most of his victims have very public careers and they are too embarrassed to reveal that they were taken by him.  Unfortunately he relies on that and has flown under the radar for a very long time.  When he does go to jail for his crimes he shows his true colors by returning to scamming people so quickly after release.  He is 43 years old and has had the same behaviour pattern for 25 years now.  Some people are capable of change but he hasn't proven that at all yet.  Here is an excerpt from a judges statement about that - you can see the full report at http://canlii.ca/t/1hm8f ;

[36]      Mr. Devries' criminal history commences in 1989 which, by my calculation, would be the beginning of his career as an adult criminal. It is unbroken since 1989. There are only two years where no convictions are registered, one of which he was in jail. By my count, there are 40 fraud, forgery and false pretence related convictions. There are 18 further property related offences, including thefts, possession of stolen property, including possession and theft of credit cards and obtaining credit by fraud. In addition, there are nine assaults, threatenings or harassment convictions. There is an obstruct a peace officer, in addition to the one he has pleaded guilty to; possession of a prohibited weapon; escaping lawful custody; several breaches of probation; two breaches of parole; and failures to appear.

[37]      He has also had the benefit of a conditional sentence order imposed in August of 2001. That conditional sentence was terminated in January of 2002. He spent 590 days in custody.

[38]      Of significance is that on April 16th of 1999 he received 27 months custody in relation to 14 counts of fraud and one breach of probation. There was a 15-month sentence imposed concurrently at that time, but he was also placed on probation for two years. So as of April 16th, 1999, then, for four years following, until April of 2003, he would have either been in jail serving a sentence for 14 counts of fraud and/or on probation. On August 8th, 2001, as I have indicated, he received a two-year conditional sentence order, again with respect to fraud over $5,000. That conditional sentence order was breached and he went back into custody. On June 11th of 2002, he was again convicted of four counts of fraud and received 10 months on each charge concurrent. He was released, as I understood the evidence, February 6th, 2003 and he was recommitting offences within a week. The first date he is alleged to have made contact with some of these victims is at Whistler in early February.