Crime

Alleged con man accused of stealing thousands from women he was dating

Christopher Wehner was arraigned in Chelsea District Court on August 12. Aram Boghosian for The Boston Globe

August 19, 2016

1 minute to read

An alleged serial con man accused of stealing money from at least a half dozen people in the Boston area was held on bail earlier this month after more than 30 charges piled up against him, The Boston Globe reports.

According to the Globe, each time 27-year-old Christopher Wehner appeared before a judge on larceny charges, he was released without bail and consistently failed to show up for later court dates.

Somerville police arrested Wehner on August 11 after his girlfriend accused him of stealing $800 from her bank account, the Globe reports. He was arraigned the next day in Chelsea District Court on the first of the nine arrest warrants he is facing. In that case, prosecutors say he stole $4,100 from a friend’s father in 2014.

He was ordered held on $15,000 cash bail, according to the Globe.

Many of Wehner’s victims were the women he was dating, according to the Globe. The women told the newspaper he was genial and charming, the kind of person who folded their laundry and picked up their groceries.

Michaela Tower, a 25-year-old single mom, met Wehner online, and they began dating in 2014, according to the Globe. He told her he was a three-time cancer survivor and quickly won over both Tower’s reserved father and 2-year-old daughter. A few months into their relationship, Wehner told Tower he had cancer. Believing they would get married, she wrote him 10 checks totalling $28,650 for what she believed was his cancer treatment at Dana Farber.

Tower told the Globe that she only learned he was lying when she asked his mother about his illness, and she told Tower that Wehner never had cancer.

“I’m going to be paying it off until I’m 50,” Tower said of the debt. “I just feel like I was obviously young and naive. He knew I was looking for a family guy. When you’re a single mom, who doesn’t want that image in your head.”

Read the full report at the Globe.