Thursday, 14th December 2006 (2836 views)

A man who convinced people he could remove curses from gold items has been caught by Miami-Dade police.

Javier Villamizar developed elaborate stories about buried treasure and deathbed curses in order to con people in to parting with cash. However, police have finally arrested Mr Villamizar after he attempted to steal $100,000 from David Berrones by convincing him that gold and jewels were buried in his back garden.

Mr Berrones alerted police after he become suspicious of Mr Villamizar's claims that his home was the site of an ancient treasure buried by Spanish monks in the 1800s.

"It's amazing that people fall for it," explained Miami-Dade detective Ivette Perez.

He added that the con man had already managed to scam around $50,000 from a nearby nursery owner using a metal detector and a fake handwritten note claiming to be written by a monk in 1832

Mr Villamizar is now facing grand-theft and fraud charges and police are investigating reports that he may have conducted similar cons in Fort Myers, Gainesville and Arkansas.

 

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