{"id":59498,"date":"2023-03-06T08:00:07","date_gmt":"2023-03-06T13:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/?p=59498"},"modified":"2023-03-05T21:40:45","modified_gmt":"2023-03-06T02:40:45","slug":"eight-arrestd-in-norval-morrisseau-forgeries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/06\/eight-arrestd-in-norval-morrisseau-forgeries\/","title":{"rendered":"Eight arrestd in Norval Morrisseau Forgeries"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n
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On March 1, 2023, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) and the Thunder Bay Police Service (TBPS) arrested eight individuals for their involvement in the apparent fraudulent manufacturing and distribution of artwork purported to be that of Indigenous artist Norval Morrisseau.<\/p>\n

Morrisseau – also known as Copper Thunderbird – was a prolific Indigenous artist from the Bingwi Neyaashi Anishinaabek First Nation. Before his death in 2007, allegations began to emerge of individuals creating and selling art under his name and made in his distinctive Woodland School of Art style.<\/p>\n

Since 2020 and together with the TBPS, a major case manager with the OPP Criminal Investigation Branch has been leading the investigation of the alleged production, distribution and sale of fake artwork falsely attributed to the late Morrisseau.<\/p>\n

As a result of this two-and-a-half-year investigation, eight people have been arrested and are facing 40 total charges. More than 1,000 alleged fraudulent paintings, prints and other artworks have been seized. Some of these paintings sold for tens of thousands of dollars to unsuspecting members of the public who had no reason to believe they weren’t genuine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Name<\/strong><\/td>\nAge<\/strong><\/td>\nResidence<\/strong><\/td>\nCharges<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
David John VOSS<\/td>\n51<\/td>\nThunder Bay<\/td>\n\u2022 Forgery contrary to Section 367 of the Criminal Code<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u2022 Uttering Forged Document contrary to Section 368 of the Criminal Code<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u2022 Defraud the Public Over $5,000 contrary to Section 380(1) of the Criminal Code<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u2022 Fraud Over $5,000 contrary to Section 380(1)(a) of the Criminal Code x3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u2022 Commission of offence for criminal organization contrary to Section 467.12 of the Criminal Code<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u2022 Instructing commission of offence for criminal organization contrary to Section 467.13 of the Criminal Code<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Diane Marie CHAMPAGNE<\/td>\n63<\/td>\nThunder Bay<\/td>\n\u2022 Forgery contrary to Section 367 of the Criminal Code<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u2022 Uttering Forged Document contrary to Section 368 of the Criminal Code<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u2022 Defraud the Public Over $5,000 contrary to Section 380(1) of the Criminal Code<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u2022 Commission of offence for criminal<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Gary Bruce LAMONT<\/td>\n61<\/td>\nThunder Bay<\/td>\n\u2022 Forgery contrary to Section 367 of the Criminal Code<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u2022 Uttering Forged Document contrary to Section 368 of the Criminal Code<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u2022 Defraud the Public Over $5,000 contrary to Section 380(1) of the Criminal Code<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u2022 Fraud Over $5,000 contrary to Section 380(1) of the Criminal Code<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u2022 Commission of offence for criminal organization contrary to Section 467.12 of the Criminal Code<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Linda Joy TKACHYK<\/td>\n59<\/td>\nThunder Bay<\/td>\n\u2022 Forgery contrary to Section 367 of the Criminal Code<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u2022 Uttering Forged Document contrary to Section 368 of the Criminal Code<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u2022 Defraud the Public Over $5,000 contrary to Section 380(1) of the Criminal Code<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u2022 Fraud Over $5,000 contrary to Section 380(1) of the Criminal Code<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u2022 Commission of offence for criminal organization contrary to Section 467.12 of the Criminal Code<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Benjamin Paul MORRISSEAU<\/td>\n53<\/td>\nThunder Bay<\/td>\n\u2022 Forgery contrary to Section 367 of the Criminal Code<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u2022 Participation in criminal organization contrary to Section 467.11 of the Criminal Code<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Jeffrey Gordon COWAN<\/td>\n47<\/td>\nNiagara-on-the-Lake<\/td>\n\u2022 Uttering Forged Document contrary to Section 368 of the Criminal Code<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u2022 Defraud the Public Over $5,000 contrary to Section 380(1) of the Criminal Code<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u2022 Fraud Over $5,000 contrary to Section 380(1) of the Criminal Code x 4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
James WHITE<\/td>\n81<\/td>\nEssa Township<\/td>\n\u2022 Uttering Forged Document contrary to Section 368 of the Criminal Code<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u2022 Defraud the Public Over $5,000\u00a0contrary to Section 380(1) of the Criminal Code<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u2022 Fraud Over $5,000 contrary to Section 380(1) of the Criminal Code x 2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u2022 Possess Property Obtained by Crime for the Purpose of Trafficking contrary to Section 355.4 of the Criminal Code<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
David P. BREMNER<\/td>\n75<\/td>\nLocust Hill<\/td>\n\u2022 Uttering Forged Document contrary to Section 368 of the Criminal Code<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u2022 Defraud the Public Over $5,000 contrary to Section 380(1) of the Criminal Code<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u2022 Fraud Over $5,000 contrary to Section 380(1) of the Criminal Code x 2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u2022 Possess Property Obtained by Crime for the Purpose of Trafficking contrary to Section 355.4 of the Criminal Code<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

The OPP is not in a position to authenticate any artwork. If you believe you may be in possession of a suspected forgery or fraudulent work of art, it is recommended that you seek legal advice by contacting a lawyer or the Law Society of Ontario, which operates the Law Society Referral Service. This service provides a free half-hour consultation with a lawyer. For more information, please visit http:\/\/www.lso.ca.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  On March 1, 2023, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) and the Thunder Bay Police Service (TBPS) arrested eight individuals for their involvement in the apparent fraudulent manufacturing and distribution of artwork purported to be that of Indigenous artist Norval Morrisseau. Morrisseau – also known as Copper Thunderbird – was a prolific Indigenous artist from …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":59504,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-provincial"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-01 06:25:28","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59498"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59505,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59498\/revisions\/59505"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}