A globetrotting conman who once posed as a paramedic with a fake ambulance and a United Nations official, leaving a trail of unpaid hotel bills and deception spanning multiple countries, has been jailed in Christchurch.
The 32-year-old man, known as Joshua Yarwood or Joshua Martyn according to Stuff, was sentenced to one year and three months’ imprisonment when he appeared in the Christchurch District Court yesterday.
Police said they were notified on June 17 that a hotel guest had left without paying for his two-week stay.
A staff member at the hotel uncovered further deception when alerting other hotels in the city – they revealed similar offending dating back to May 5.
Detective Sergeant Michael Freeman said police identified three other hotels where the man had offended alongside multiple unsuccessful attempts.
“Across the four hotels we know of, he has $15,290.61 of unpaid debts.”
The man was charged with four counts of obtaining by deception and one charge relating to a computer search.
Freeman said it soon became clear that the man’s offending was not limited to Christchurch, with hotels in Greece, Thailand, the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland and Cambodia all reporting similar offending.
“The man is alleged to have used different names, scamming many victims out of thousands of dollars by posing as a United Nations official procuring aid for charities linked to the war in Ukraine.”
Beyond financial fraud, the man was accused of manipulating a woman into believing she was being stalked — when he was behind the intimidation — and of failing to pay an employee in Cambodia thousands in wages.
Following the man’s arrest in New Zealand, police found the man had been previously convicted in the UK for theft, fraud, and impersonating a paramedic complete with a self-made ambulance response vehicle.
Freeman said the case has drawn comparisons to infamous con artist Frank Abagnale, whose life inspired the film Catch Me If You Can.
“The only key difference is that unlike being arrested by the French Police like Abagnale, the man was arrested by us.
“This movie-like scenario doesn’t happen to police often, so it is nice to see an offender be held to account for this type of offending.”
Immigration NZ and Interpol were now involved with authorities expecting further information to surface.
