While the injuries he sustained were real, the circumstances were not – and now a man who claimed to have been injured by a booby-trapped mountain bike trail near Bragg Creek has been charged with fraud and public mischief.
“The injuries are legitimate, absolutely, but not in the manner he reported,” said Insp. Lauren Weare, detachment commander of the Cochrane RCMP. “There never was a bike, or a scene involving a bicycle.”
Last Friday, Cochrane RCMP charged Calgary resident Stelianos Psaroudakis, 37, with public mischief and fraud under $5,000 and issued a warrant for his arrest. Psaroudakis turned himself in at the detachment later that same afternoon.
The charges stem from an investigation that began after Psaroudakis claimed his neck was sliced open by a piece of barbed wire stretched across a mountain bike trail in the Bragg Creek area on July 5.
Psaroudakis also claimed his expensive mountain bike was stolen from the scene and started a GoFundMe campaign in an attempt to raise $8,000.
Weare said suspicions were raised about the legitimacy of Psaroudakis’s claims, and police received “a great deal of assistance from the public” as they started to put the pieces of the case together, including help from the general public, bike trail associations, cycling groups and more.
“There was a tremendous amount of support from the community,” she said.
As a result, Weare said investigators discovered Psaroudakis’s injuries were actually caused while he was an “invited guest” on a property in the Cochrane RCMP detachment coverage area – and not while riding a bike in Bragg Creek.
“Mr. Psaroudakis was riding an all-terrain vehicle and was involved in an incident in another location at another time,” said Weare. “He did come in contact with wire … It was part of a fence to contain livestock.”
Psaroudakis tried to explain away the situation in his own way to waiting media on Friday evening as he left the Cochrane detachment.
“I was trying to keep a friend out of trouble. He had an unregistered, unlicensed vehicle with no brakes,” Psaroudakis said as he walked to his car, adding, “I’m stupid … I want to help and I never do it the right way.”
Weare said “a significant number of human resources from the Cochrane detachment went into investigating this file” – first in an attempt to figure out what allegedly happened initially on the Bragg Creek area trail, then to follow their own trail of what really happened and the details surrounding Psaroudakis’s injuries.
The incident also caused considerable concern among cyclists and outdoor enthusiasts who use the extensive and popular Bragg Creek trail system, who feared for their safety.
GoFundMe supporters also worried they would lose their money after donating to Psaroudakis’s cause.
“We can confirm that the campaign organizer, Stelianos Psaroudakis, closed the campaign and all donors have now been refunded,” said Rachel Hollis, GoFundMe’s Canadian communications manager. “Campaigns with misuse are very rare, making up less than one tenth of one percent of all campaigns. Along with a host of proactive measures to prevent misuse, we also have the ability to receive reports from users about potential fraudulent activity, as in this case.”
Weare urged the public to be mindful when contributing to online fundraising initiatives – and to refrain from lashing out at Psaroudakis on social media or other channels. She added that all residents’ fears can now be put to rest, as there are no other suspects being considered in the case.
“It is my hope,” she said, “that these charges will bring closure to this matter.”
