Fugitive 'Don Juan Con Man' From San Mateo Arrested In Las Vegas
LAS VEGAS (KPIX 5) - A fugitive from San Mateo known as the 'Don Juan Con Man' was arrested this week in Las Vegas after allegedly bragging about his exploits online.
Las Vegas Metro police arrested Simon Gann after running his name and discovering a parole violation.
Gann's modus operandi is to romance women, then sweet talk his victims out of their money, according to police, who say he had dozens of victims.
Police say he and his twin brother are accused of scams in several states as well as in Canada.
Gann was arrested by Menlo Park Police in 2010, convicted and sentenced to 16 months in prison - but only served three of those months because he jumped parole.
Menlo Park police officer Felicia Byars told KPIX 5 investigators learned Gann was in Las Vegas via emails - in which he'd been bragging about jumping parole in California and ending up in Vegas.
He just had this air of 'I've used this a thousand times, everybody believes me, I'm gonna pull one over on you and get away with it,'" said Byars.
Police say Gann often posing as a doctor or a mathematician. In Menlo Park, Gann said he was a math savant. Police said he used a fake name, struck up a relationship with a woman he met at Starbucks, and convinced her that he needed money because his passport and some other items had been stolen.
$1,900 dollars later, she found his driver's license with his real name. She looked him up online and discovered he had duped many other women out of their cash as well.
In Las Vegas, a woman named Jennifer claims he gambled with her money and actually won a bunch. "I said let me at least take the 250 back, you can play with the rest of it and then whatever you make from that, then we'll split it," said Jennifer. "He was like, 'No, no, no, I'll just hang on to all of it. I'll be right back.'"
Gann's luck ran out when Las Vegas officers, responding to a battery call, ended up arresting him.
The parole board now has to decide whether they want to have him extradited back to San Mateo County.
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