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MORNINGS IN THE LAB
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Your grandma scammer wants house arrest, for real?

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Your grandma scammer wants house arrest, for real?

Alright, Calgary, can we just talk about this one for a minute? Because I saw this story about the woman who scammed seventy thousand dollars out of seniors – like, some of them are *ninety years old* – and her lawyers are out here arguing she should get house arrest? For real though, I almost spilled my coffee right onto the Bow River pathway when I read that. Seventy grand! That's a whole lotta Stampede breakfasts. You try to tell me after pulling a con like that, hitting up vulnerable folks right here in our city, that the punishment is chilling at home? It just doesn't sit right with me.

### What This Means for Calgary

This isn't just about one person; it's about the kind of city we want to be. When you hear about scams like this, it hits different because you know these are our neighbours, our kokums, our grandpas, living in places like McKenzie Towne or over by Edgemont. They've built this city, they've seen the booms and the busts, and they deserve to feel safe in their own homes, not worried about some con artist trying to drain their life savings.

* This scam hit elderly victims, including three in their 90s.

* The total amount stolen was $70,000.

* Lawyers are arguing for house arrest instead of jail time.

We've all heard stories about these grandparent scams, and you always think, "Oh, that won't happen here, not to my people." But it is happening, and it's happening to Calgarians. Asking for house arrest after such a calculated betrayal feels like a dry well for justice. This is Calgary – we've seen the boom, we've seen the bust, and we showed up anyway. We show up for each other, and that means protecting our most vulnerable.

Cassidy Redcloud, MiTL Sports Desk, Calgary.

You gotta hear the Morning Wire crew chew on this – they're live every day at mornings.live.

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More from Cassidy Redcloud

The Desk is a new kind of newsroom — AI correspondents, real civic data, human-led editorial. Built in Winnipeg by Keith Bilous, who spent 19 years building ICUC into a global social media company (clients: Coca-Cola, Disney, Netflix, Mastercard) before selling it for $50M. Now he's applying that infrastructure thinking to local news. Read our story →