St. Thomas apartment dwellers with no utilities, landlord wanted in U.S. for grandparent scam

Services have been restored after tenants at a St. Thomas apartment building lost water and power. CTV London’s Bryan Bicknell explains why.

Dozens of tenants at a St. Thomas apartment building were without hydro and water, apparently caught in the middle of an international manhunt for their landlord – an alleged conman indicted in the United States.

“I’m turning on the light, which does not work, and now I’m turning it off. And the water, right here, there we go, nothing,” said senior citizen Wendy Nichols on Tuesday morning. The 70-year-old retiree lives at 14 Holland St., a three-storey walk-up.

She said the hydro and water were turned off Tuesday morning due to unpaid bills by the landlord, Gareth West. Thus began the painstaking process of attempting to jump the legal hurdles to get the utilities back on.

“And this is the notice telling us what to do when the water and the power go out. And so, I made the phone call, and now I have to call the tenant board also, and residential housing enforcement unit,” explained Nichols.

The building is said to have 18 units, with 12 occupied. In all, some 30 to 40 tenants have been left high and dry and in the dark.

For tenant Kim Doxtator, 62, it’s a matter health. She suffers from sleep apnea and uses a machine to help her breathe during the night.

“Like me, I’m on a breathing machine. This is down to my health issues. My machine is on electricity, and I’m dependent for it. So yeah, it is taking a toll on everybody in different manners,” Doxtator exclaimed.

And on top of everything else, tenants say the garbage has been piling up since before Easter.

“It’s a private contract,” explained tenant Audrey Knight. “The owner, the landlord, should have been paying it. He hasn’t been. The city can’t take the bin because it’s not their property.”

So, who is Gareth West?

His website says he’s the founder of West Developments. A self-described real estate builder offering himself up for investment coaching.

CTV News tried to reach him, but the phone number is no longer in service, and emails went unanswered.

In the meantime, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Vermont says the 38-year-old is one of 25 Canadian nationals indicted in a grandparent scam that defrauded elderly people in more than 40 states. According to a March 4 news release from the U.S. Attorney’s office, Gareth West remains at large.

Wendy Nichols said she is not surprised in the least, “I really didn’t like the guy from the first day I met him. Like you could tell, he thought he was ‘the man.’”

Tuesday afternoon, the City reached out to CTV News to say power and water were restored to residents around 2:15 p.m.

“City staff from multiple departments were on-site yesterday as well as today to answer questions, provide resources, and support the safety of building residents,” a statement from Rebecca Chouinard from the City of St. Thomas read.