An Ontario man is being accused of changing his name, profession and life story multiple times to potentially more than 100 women online before leaving some out thousands of dollars, a CTV News Toronto investigation has found.
Even though he was convicted of three fraud charges a decade ago in what police called an online dating scam at the time, he has racked up new charges in several regions of the province since — charges records show he never appeared in court to face, as the justice system struggles to keep up with him.
CTV News Toronto has spoken to several women — many of them single mothers — who knew this man as “Johnny Myers,” “John Meyers,” “John Boulder” and “Jon Moulders.” And some of those those women say they have been in contact with up to 150 more.
A court appearance this week in Milton, Ont. related to recently laid charges of unlawful confinement, mischief and voyeurism gave some of the woman the first glimpse of his true name: Jon Mulder.
“When he said, ‘Jon Mulder’ in court, it was a confirmation. You’re not ‘Myers,’ you’re Mulder,’” said Naomi Wolf, who met a man she believed was Johnny Myers last year and dated him for eight months.
They met on Facebook Marketplace, where she bought a motorcycle from him for $10,000. The pair hit it off and started seeing each other.
“He was engaging and charismatic and fun to talk to,” Wolf said. He met her kids and she went to his family’s home for dinner. But soon she said he became more controlling.
Naomi Wolf said she dated Jon Mulder for eight months before she discovered the Facebook group ‘Are we dating the same man?’ (Supplied)
But then their relationship completely unravelled.
Wolf said a friend sent her a link to a Facebook page entitled “Are we dating the same man – Toronto,” and she was flabbergasted to see his picture on it with a different name and over 100 comments from other women.
When she reached out to those women, Wolf said she found out many of the things he had told her about his life simply didn’t add up — including that he owned that motorcycle.
The bike actually belonged to Annge Madill, a Peterborough woman who told CTV News Toronto that she met Mulder on a dating app too.
She said Mulder offered to sell her bike — but she never saw him, the bike or the money again.
One woman told CTV News Toronto she has been contacted by more than 150 people who have dated Jon Mulder. (Supplied)
“He started to take advantage of me from the first initial message, though I didn’t realize it then,” Madill told CTV News Toronto.
“He seemed to be a real gentleman, serenading you with a country love song, wanting to be the first person you spoke with in the morning, and made you feel really special. You just fell for it. His personality was larger than life,” she recalled.
Mulder said he managed several high-profile country music artists and made money repairing and flipping motorcycles. But pictures of him matched up with pictures from other women across the province, making her doubt everything he said, Madill recalled.
“Over the last 13 days, I have paired up with women all over Ontario. I call them my new girl army. We talk every day and we try to find as many as possible,” she said.
MULDER FACES PREVIOUS FRAUD CHARGES
Court records obtained by CTV News Toronto show Jon Mulder was arrested back in 2013 when Oxford OPP charged him with a series of fraud charges, alleging he pretended to be a veterinarian to meet women online and then defraud them.
The records show he was convicted and served 683 days in prison. But once out, he faced new charges.
In Barrie, records show he was charged with fraud over $5,000 in 2019. Later that year, he was charged with impaired driving in St. Catharines. In Belleville, he faces two charges of fraud under $5,000, as well as one of falsify and destroy books with intent to fraud sworn in 2020.
In 2021, he was charged in Brantford for allegedly defrauding Amy Todd of $60,000 by getting her to invest in a phony business.
Todd told CTV News Toronto she believed this man’s name was Jon Boulder when she met him on the dating website Plenty of Fish. (CTV News Toronto)
Todd told CTV News Toronto she believed this man’s name was Jon Boulder when she met him on the dating website Plenty of Fish. She said he told her he operated a business that imported and maintained horses. After he earned her trust, he asked her to invest.
“I did trust him,” she recalled. “It turns out I didn’t even know his true last name.”
She said she almost lost her house and has yet to repay $20,000. She got a lawyer and obtained a judgement that Mulder should repay her the money, but has yet to see any of it.
She said she later learned through a corporate search the business she believed he operated actually belonged to another woman.
“I’ve had over 150 women contact me in the past two years,” she said. “I couldn’t believe the amount of women who contacted me. It was disgusting.”
According to the records, Mulder did not show up to court to address each of the charges and the judge issued a bench warrant—a type of arrest warrant issued when an accused misses a court date.
Multiple bench warrants were issued, but Mulder, once in custody, would be released on bail.
For example, in St. Catharines, a bench warrant was issued on Jan. 25, 2021. In Brantford, the charge involving Todd was sworn by a Brantford Police Service officer on March 10, 2021 — just under two months later.
But despite the outstanding warrant in St. Catharines, Mulder was released on bail in Brantford, records show. The Brantford courthouse found itself issuing its own bench warrant on Oct. 27, 2022 when Mulder didn’t show again.
The records show he was convicted and served 683 days in prison. But once out, he faced new charges. (CTV News Toronto)
Todd believes if Mulder had been held in St. Catharines earlier, she may not have met him and would not have lost so much money.
“It’s like they’re turning a blind eye to this and it’s been going on for years and years,” she said.
Lawyer and legal commentator Ari Goldkind told CTV News Toronto that prosecutors do have a system called “SCOPE,” which allows them to see what is happening with any offender across the province.
But it’s possible, he said, that a Crown attorney didn’t consider the case serious enough in isolation to even look.
“To make this make sense, one jurisdiction isn’t speaking to the other, the left isn’t speaking to the right,” he said. “Perhaps it’s not viewed as the same ‘holy smokes’ as it gets to the crown’s office as a crime of clear violence would be.”
In the 2013 case, Mulder was ordered to pay four women a total of $7,330.56. The courthouse confirmed their records show he has only paid $1,000.
Mulder’s lawyer didn’t return messages left by CTV News Toronto. While Mulder was convicted in the charges from 2013, he is considered innocent until proven guilty in the subsequent charges.
Mulder appeared virtually in Milton court from Hamilton-Wentworth prison on the latest unlawful confinement, mischief and voyeurism charges. He has yet to have a bail hearing on the latest charges.
Wolf said she is hoping the court takes the accused’s entire history into consideration as it makes a decision whether to release him.
And she is still amazed at the scope of alleged deception and how it goes far beyond just her.
“It’s baffling. How does someone, not to just one person, but to multiple people, keep track of the lies?” she asked.