Suspected con man caught

The man police say specializes in swindling single women is arrested in Tampa.

By WILL VAN SANT and BEN MONTGOMERY, Times Staff Writers
Published October 15, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT Police say Jordan Gann, 26, is a con artist who pretends to be a man of wealth. Related content Angry women, police on his trail (Oct. 10)

TAMPA - This time, Jordan Gann couldn't keep his stories straight, and his sloppy con finally led the law to its man.

Gann, who police say is a slick con artist with a record of swindling single women, was drinking at Hattricks Tavern downtown Sunday afternoon. Dressed in a white T-shirt, swimming trunks and flip-flops, he sat at the end of the bar and told the general manager he was an attorney, in town to work a case.

He said he was interested in hosting a party for about 150 people every Wednesday for the next six weeks. Full drinks. Full buffet. He was looking to spend about $15,000.

When Hattricks manager James Bronte, 25, got to work about 6 p.m. and talked to the general manager, he was immediately suspicious.

"We run a small bar here," Bronte said Sunday night. "It's not everyday someone wants to throw a $15,000 party."

Bronte asked for a business card. The man said he had been swimming and didn't bring his wallet. Then he made a big mistake. The man identified himself as Dr. Shawn Cohen.

Didn't he say he was an attorney? Bronte wondered. None of it seemed right. Bronte went to an upstairs office and "Googled" the name.

Up popped a recent St. Petersburg Times story on Gann, complete with a photograph of the man downstairs at the bar. Tampa police were immediately called and they arrived within minutes.

"He walked out calmly," Bronte said. "It pretty much seemed he knew he had been caught. There wasn't any fight or anything."

Meredith Gavin, who says Gann victimized her in Orlando in 2004, was jubilant at the news.

"Rock on!" said Gavin, 31. "I've been waiting for this for four years."

Tampa police issued a warrant for Gann's arrest last week. They describe him as a con man who has made an art out of targeting single women, telling them he's a doctor, then taking them for money, goods and services before disappearing.

Handsome and smooth, Gann has used many many aliases. Simon Gann, Charles Morales, Simon Wilkes, Dr. Shawn P. Cohen and Dr. Jonathan Marino are a few.

He has left traces of his work in Arizona, Philadelphia, New Hampshire and Tampa Bay, where police think he has been operating on and off for the past two years.

Gavin said she was hanging out with a girlfriend in Orlando in 2004 when Gann approached and impressed them with his medical lingo. He was a doctor who sold his rights to his cancer research to a drug company, he told them.

The two women hung out with him that night and took him back to Tampa with them.

During the four days Gavin and Gann were acquainted, she said her roommate and two friends spent $1,000 supporting him, including buying him CDs, a cell phone, clothing and meals. He took them to the mall, then said he had forgotten his credit cards, she said.

Just as she was catching on to his ploy, Gavin says Gann slipped away from her as she parked her car at his hotel. It was the last time she saw him. Gavin, who now lives in Albany, N.Y., thinks her 3-year-old autistic son, Liam, is Gann's.

Outraged and bothered by a lack of media coverage, Gavin created a Web site to alert others: http://home.nycap.rr.com/simonwilkes2003/.

Gann's arrest is a sweet triumph for her, but Gavin wishes she could have seen him picked up.

"I want to be there," she said. "I want to see his face."

Staff writer Rebecca Catalanello contributed to this report. Will Van Sant can be reached at vansant@sptimes.com or 727-445-4166.

[Last modified October 14, 2007, 23:49:34]