'I find it really disheartening': Family calls out police after Ottawa senior falls victim to theft in parking lot

Family calling out Ottawa police An Ottawa family is calling out police after a senior was the victim of a distraction theft. CTV’s Austin Lee reports.

On September 11, Madeleine Gervais was the victim of a distraction theft in Ottawa's west end.

It happened in the Loblaws parking lot in College Square, when she was approached by a man and a woman who insisted to help her load her groceries into her car.

One of them stood in front of her, helping to load the vehicle, while the second person stood behind her, covertly fishing through her backpack, swiping her wallet.

“I went back in the car. I didn’t think anything of it. I just told my husband, ‘They were so nice and polite,’ and then we went back home,” said Gervais.

The next day, Gervais says she went online to check her accounts and noticed a long list of fraudulent transactions on her credit cards. In total, she was out nearly $10,000.

“I went to the bank right away and they checked. It was true, there was money taken from personal account and my business account. There was also money taken from my credit card too,” she said.

“All of my personal information was in my wallet. My social insurance number, my health card, my driver’s license, and other cards.”

Gervais is in the process of being reimbursed by her bank and the credit card company, but she also lost a significant amount of cash and still wants to see the suspects held responsible.

On Sept. 12, she called her daughter, Valerie Gervais, for help filing a report with the Ottawa Police Service.

“We called the hotline and waited almost 40 minutes and then we were told we had to file it online,” Valerie said.

“So, I did what I thought was the proper way to file it online. I listed all of the stuff that was stolen under one report and mentioned that my mother is visually impaired, and then we waited about a week, and we didn’t hear anything back.”

Valerie then called police once again and was told they would need to file an individual report for each stolen card.

So, the pair went back online, and filed the necessary reports.

“We wait again for another week, and we don’t hear anything back. This time, my mom forwards me an email she got because she can’t read it, and it says, ‘we may or may not investigate your case.’ It was just a standard email.” said Valerie.

Valerie called police. She says she was assured someone would be investigating, but another week went by with no communication from police.

That’s when she and her sister, Christine, turned to social media.

“It was kind of like a ‘woe is me, no one is calling my mom back’ type of post, and we got probably 40 replies of other people saying this had happened to them and that they haven’t spoken to police officer in six months,” Valerie said.

“Obviously we would like those people to get caught, but I find it really disheartening to think that these people could get away with it.”

CTV News reached out to the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) for comment on Gervais' situation, but a police spokesperson responded several days later with information pertaining to a separate case, claiming Gervais’ situation was resolved and the case was closed. Police later clarified they had mixed up two cases.

The Gervais family says after CTV News contacted police, an investigator finally called them back and informed them the investigation continues.

However, the robbery took place last month and Madeleine Gervais’ daughters say they are losing faith in the police service.

“It is very, very frustrating and quite frankly, it doesn’t make us feel any safer in this city,” said Christine.

“I can get a speeding ticket, that’s great. They’ll stop us for that, but somebody gets $10,000 stolen and they do nothing.”

A police spokesperson tells CTV News that there are thousands of similar cases in their queue at any given time and that investigators are doing what they can to clear the backlog.

Police say the investigation remains open, and an investigator touched base with Gervais on Monday to provide an update.

"We understand that these incidents can be distressing for all involved, and we thank them for their patience," police said in a statement. "With a large number of investigations underway across the city, each takes time to receive the attention it needs to reach a resolution or exhaust all investigative leads."