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Scam artist nets $8K from victims
Posted at: 06/15/2012 6:29 PM
| Updated at: 06/15/2012 6:49 PM
By: Dan Bazile
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 Photo: Ray Zanta/WNYT |
A career scam artist strikes again. Police say Patrick Walsh worked out a scheme to bilk his victims out of thousands of dollars.
Twenty-five-year-old Nicholas Sellick says hindsight is 20/20, that would have given him the clue to steer clear of 50-year-old Patrick Walsh.
“He came off as a good guy. He didn't seem like he was a bad person at all,” said Sellick.
He seemed genuine, trustworthy and that ended up costing Sellick more than just money. He was about to propose when he met Walsh.
“I really loved this girl. She was the one. The fact that she's gone because of this, that really started it all,” said Sellick.
Sellick and his girlfriend wanted to own a bar. He says Walsh offered to help by giving him a job as a vehicle repossession agent with the understanding that the money he earned would be used toward the bar.
“It wasn't just my girlfriend. I brought my family, my mother, father cousins around this person and he scammed them,” said Sellick.
Police say Walsh had other victims. They say his last scam netted him $8,000 by claiming to sell repossessed cars at deeply discounted prices.
“He came to the house with a Mustang convertible, claimed he could sell it for $8,000,”said Lt. Mike Brown of the Rotterdam Police Department.
The victim gave him the money, but no Mustang. Police say Walsh has a lengthy criminal history for doing the same thing.
NewsChannel 13 was first introduced to him in 2005 after he had been arrested three times.
He was convicted in 2006 on three larcenies, served time, then went back in on grand larceny in 2010, approved for parole in 2011, according to New York State Department of Corrections.
Police say there isn't much they can do to keep Walsh in prison after serving his time. The current grand larceny charges carry a sentence of more than a year in jail, that's it. Police say he could come out and do it again.
The best thing to do, police warn is to be on alert for anyone asking to help you and if a deal seems too good to be true, it usually is.
