An Ontario man who travelled the country feeding a drug addiction with the fraudulent gains of more than 30 “quick-change” scams carried out on unsuspecting cashiers has pleaded guilty to his crimes.
This week, Ontario Court Justice Celynne Dorval sentenced Christian Tygesen to 20 months in jail and 18 months probation for 32 guilty pleas. With time served, he has one year remaining on his sentence.
The story was always the same for Tygesen. And the scheme was, too.
He would go into establishments, usually preying on young cashiers, purchase a small item like as a Gatorade, pay with a medium-sized bill, like a $20 or $50, and then, when his change was being returned, present more money, usually in large denominations and ask for more change. The cashier would become confused, Tygesen would take back some of the money or offer to count it himself. In the chaos with fistfuls of bills piling up, Tygesen would pocket the cash and make a quit exit.
In some cases, he’d employ a friend or girlfriend to serve as a distraction. His take from the scams totalled nearly $10,000. The Ottawa charges against him, investigated by the city police fraud unit, were racked up in January 2015 when he hit multiple grocery stores in the capital.
Between 2009 and 2015, he defrauded grocery stores, hardware stores, Giant Tiger, Tim Hortons, Swiss Chalet and more.
Once caught or charged, he’d move on to another area. He pleaded guilty to charges in Mississauga, Russell, Arnprior, Niagara Falls, St. Catharines, Milton, Ottawa and elsewhere.
Tygesen tried his hand in other provinces, too — Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
Tygesen’s own substance abuse — of alcohol and drugs — was the driving factor for the scams. In 2000, he began using cocaine and he mainly committed crime to support his addiction, his lawyer, Geraldine Castle-Trudel, told the court.
Castle-Trudel said the totality of his crimes was significant but that each, on its own, was small. She said her client exploited the vulnerable in part due to “the failing of an education system,” which left cashiers, typically reliant on a register, trying to do impromptu math.
Tygesen said that he is now “determined to stay clean.”
“I want to get on with my life and be a productive member of society.”
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