SHERWOOD PARK— RCMP in Alberta may have to think like James Bond if they’re going to catch a real-life Goldfinger who exchanged stolen money for gold bars last month.
On June 23, a man believed to be in his 50s entered a Toronto Dominion Bank in Sherwood Park, Alta., just east of Edmonton, police said.
Soon after, flashing some stolen identification, he allegedly walked out with a bank draft for over $226, 000 dollars.
Police said he then headed to a Bank of Nova Scotia in downtown Edmonton, where he exchanged the stolen loot for six, one-kilogram bars of gold, worth about $211,000. He took the remaining $15,000 in cash.
“This strikes me not so much as someone who’s going to move it, but someone that just wants it. This is a gold fetishist,” criminologist Bill Pitt said of the unusual crime.
“It’s too particular, it’s too targeted,” he added.
The following day, possibly emboldened by his recent successes, the man returned to the Toronto Dominion bank and obtained another bank draft from his victim’s account, this time for $262,844.
He then tried to cash the cheque at the Bank of Nova Scotia where he’d bought the gold bars.
Police said the suspect’s luck ran out, however, when bank employees began to suspect the man presenting them with the valuable bank drafts may not be the rightful owner of the cash.
The man fled the bank before police arrived.
The suspect made another appearance at the TD bank before fleeing when questioned by bank employees.
The suspect is described as having greying hair and wore large glasses at the time of the crimes.
He has one tooth protruding from his upper gums, police said.
The man may also have had an accomplice, described as a dark-skinned man in his 40s.
The gold bars the man made off with are imprinted with the brand name JM and are about 7.5 cm wide, 11 centimetres long and about 5 millimetres thick. They have the serial numbers G269305, G269306, G269307, G269308, G269309 and G269310.