A 36-year-old man has been arrested and charged after allegedly defrauding a local school board out of more than $2.1-million.
In September 2024, the Windsor Police Financial Crimes Unit launched an investigation after receiving a report of a fraud involving a school board.
The Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board confirmed Friday afternoon that they were the victim of a recent fraud.
Through investigation, officers determined that a suspect had fraudulently impersonated a contractor hired to complete work, and intercepted communication from that contractor to the school.
Police state he provided new banking details to the school board, who then transferred funds intended for the contractor to the suspect's account.
Investigators soon identified the suspect as Tyler Nathanael Manning from Toronto. An Ontario-wide warrant was issued for Manning's arrest, but police state he had left the country in October 2024.
On Thursday, March 6, the suspect was arrested after getting off a flight at Toronto Pearson International Airport.
He was transported back to Windsor, and is facing a string of charges including fraud over $5,000, forgery, uttering forged documents, two counts of impersonation to gain advantage, obtaining by false pretenses over $5,000, laundering proceeds of crime, and possession of property obtained by crime.
Sgt. Rob Durling with Windsor Police's Financial Crimes Unit says the individual was apprehended.
"They were arrested at Pearson Airport, they were obviously wanted on fraud-related offences, and with the help of our law enforcement partners in the province of Ontario, that person was successful arrested at Pearson last night."
He says the suspect had fraudulently impersonated a contractor who was hired to complete capital projects.
"This individual was able to infiltrate and impersonate one of the local contractors tied to a capital project. And in doing so they were able to successfully convince the school board officials that any money tied to the capital project could be sent to them."
Durling says due diligence is key.
"You have to know on the back end who you're sending money to, the reason why you're sending it, and you should take the necessary steps to ensure once you send a large sum of money, make sure that it's going to the proper person, or commercial business for that matter."
The Board states they are currently in the process of working through the courts and with various financial institutions, and that they are confident that it will recover substantially all of the funds that were taken.
The Board are reassuring the public that at no time were their computer systems ever compromised.
Anyone with further information is asked to contact to Windsor Police or Crime Stoppers.
-with files from CTV Windsor's Michelle Maluske