Police in Alpharetta, Georgia, have asked the public for assistance in tracking down Dwayne Keith Gardner, who has a history of conning women. Here’s a report from Fox TV in Atlanta:
Police say Dwayne Keith Gardner travels the southeast claiming to be an attorney for an NFL team, a former navy seal or a retired naval officer. He targets single older women by conning the women into lending him large sums of money.
Gardner also steals physical items from his victims. After committing the theft, he flees the area, say police.
Authorities have issued an arrest warrant for felony theft against Gardner. Gardner is believed to be in the Metro Atlanta region. Police believe there are other victims of his crimes who have not come forward. Police are asking anyone who has been a victim of this activity to come forward to file a police report.
If anyone knows the location of Dwayne Keith Gardner, they are urged to contact the Alpharetta Dept. of Public Safety’s tip line at 678-297-6307.
I was pleasantly surprised to see this news item. In fact, I was shocked. In the five years that I’ve been running Lovefraud, I’ve never seen the police actually try to locate someone who goes around taking money from women. Usually, the authorities can’t be bothered with sweetheart scams.
But this man has left a trail of destruction all over the country. Five different complaints are filed on the Ripoff Report website about Dwayne Keith Gardner, aka DeAndre Roche. Here are excerpts:
May 10, 2007
Woman from El Paso, Texas
Dwayne Keith Gardner or DeAndre Roche claims to have a trust fund, to be an attorney/sports & entertainment agent, retired baseball player (Devil Rays, Rangers, Padres), former Navy SEAL, says he is of Creole decent, born in Paris, France (actually born in New Jersey). He’ll say his mother Isabella, a federal judge and his sister Joy, a doctor, were murdered November 2001 and case not solved. Out of all this only the name Dwayne Gardner is true.
He married me in September 2004 and by late October moved us to San Antonio, TX where he claimed to be opening a restaurant and a hotel. All he did while there was set up women to send him money and rip off “employees” from Georgia whom he’d promised employment in Texas.
He corresponded with a “business partner” in Las Vegas and told her I was a cousin’s ex-wife he was helping out ”¦ In December 2004 he left for Las Vegas again on business, I later learned he married his business partner although he was already married to me. ”¦ I searched his so called private papers there were letters from other “wives” in Florida, Louisiana, and Tennessee, in addition to several photos of women in varying stages of undress, these I destroyed. After leaving San Antonio I learned he was wanted on a felony arrest warrant by the Chattanooga, TN authorities.
March 13, 2008
Elaine of Charlotte, North Carolina
Dwayne Gardner and I were married August 22, 2004 ”¦ He had claimed after we were married that we were going to purchase this home, to which he had me going out and checking out home. He then found a brand new home with a price ticket of $1,357,800. Dwayne never once gave up a dime, saying the money would come from the family trust funds.
After a few weeks of Dwayne’s promises I finaly told the builder to forget it. Cause Dwayne would disappear. And then reappear, claiming he had to go to Vegas for client relationship dealing.
Now finding that not only was he married to me that August, but got married again that following month to someone else ”¦ Now seeing this report on him and the woman to whom he had married prior to me, and now finding that he is currently locked up in Tennessee.
December 30, 2008
Angie from New York, New York
This man will do and say anything to get a woman, any woman to marry him. Ladies, he will say he has never been married (a lie), that he is an attorney and his client list includes past and present sports stars (lie), that he is a retired baseball player (lie), that he was once a Navy SEAL (lie) that he manages existing and up and coming musical talent (lie) and that he has a multi million dollar trust fund at his disposal (lie).
If he picks you up in a vehicle you can be sure that it is not his, most likely it belongs to his latest “wife”. This man has no income of his own and no desire to. He will be perfectly happy to spend yours or anyone else whom he is able to convice that he is handiling some sort of legal work for them.
Early on in your courship he will take you on a tour of high end homes for sale and will actually negotiate a contract to “purchase” one. He’ll tell the real estate agent that his “lawyers” will wire the full purchase amount to an escrow account within 3-5 days of the buyer submitting a signed contract; of course this never happens. He finds some reason to “back out ” of the deal and promises to purchase a more suitable home.
He’ll do the same with car dealerships. He picks out a luxury vehicle for himself and his new wife. The dealer writes up the purchase agreements and patiently waits for the money to be wired within 3-5 days. Again the deal falls through. In the mean time you find yourself supporting him and yourself; this guy likes to eat and he likes his meals on the high end (salmon steak, talapia, sirloin, rib roast etc.)
Report #406209
April 27, 2009
Angeline, in Miami, Florida
This man contacted me on an online dating site. He left me his phone number and asked me to call and talk to him. During our conversation he said he was an attorney who handled clients in professional sports and the entertainment and music industry. He seemed very nice over the phone so I agreed to meet. He showed up driving a late model SUV. After about a 3o minute conversation his cell phone rang and said he had to leave as a client needed to see him.
A couple of days later he picked me up and asked me to accompany him as he shopped for a new house for himself as he was new to the area. I was blown away by the homes he was considering, very high-end real estate. At one property he met with the agent and made an offer to pay the full asking price, filled out all the necessary paperwork and promised to wire the funds to an account. A day or two later he took me along as he searched for an other vehicle saying that he had decided to give his current one to a relative. On the way home he asked me to marry him. When I asked why he was in such a rush he said he knew that I was the one for him and he did not want to wait any longer.
To make a long story short; the SUV he was driving when I first met him was not his but belonged to the woman with whom he was living and she was the one who called him during our first meeting not a client. The luxury house he was buying was all a sham, he never followed through with the deal.
He has done all this so many times in the past and will continue to do this for as long as he can get away with it. He has been behind bars for the past 2 1/2 years and is anxious to get started again.
June 2, 2009
Scammed Realtor in St. Petersburg, Florida
Dwayne Gardner was at work in the St Pete area during mid June 2009. He was looking at high end homes and put a “cash” offer in on one. Problem is, he just couldn’t get the money out of his Grandfather’s estate. “The damn lawyers and accountant kept jerking him around.”
This is the guy who scammed me. I had to be the guy to tell his latest “wife,” whom I had been in contact with, that she had been defrauded. Also confirmed with his previous “wife” that he was a con man.
September 1, 2009
Mobile County Alabama
Dwayne Keith Gardner, 46 of Hudson, Florida, and a 52-year-old woman from Slidell, Louisiana.
So now, a year after the most recent marriage that I could find, the police are after Dwayne Keith Gardner. I hope they find him.
More importantly, I hope this means that police will start to take cases of bigamy and marriage fraud seriously.
Hens….
I was stoking my fire earlier tonight…..and I looked up at this bright light…..shining right in through my high windows. And there it was, in all it’s glory…..the moon.
I thought of the ‘moon crew’, and i wished you all well.
I will check it out again when I lay down in my bed tonight and get my hug from you then.
Night night darlen…..
Henry,
hugs from me too.
I know how it feels to have empathy for your pets. But we have to be strong for both ourselves and them. They CAN feel our emotions. When we are scared, it scares them. and if he can’t see, that’s even scarier. You are the tough guy from now on. Be there for him.
Dearest hens,Sending you the BIGGEST humungous HUGG!Tomorow will bea bettr day, darling! Your little dog will be OK! My toy Poodle was totally blind fora couple of years before she died,but she got around pretty good!
Dont forget they navigate by smell also, and as long as our around, shell be fine. Hope Criket is better by now too!
Luv ya, babe!!
Mama Gem.XXXXto the Moon and back!!!
Dear Henry,
(((harley)))) BTW how IS Cricket’s leg after the snake bite!?
I went outside and found 4 horses in my yard—don’t have any idea whose they are. Thought they might be crazy Bob’s but went over there and they weren’t his, so not sure whose they are…one of them is in horrible shape though and so I am going to have to track down the humane society. It needs to be put down. The three healthier ones ran back across the cattle guard and out to a neighbors.
I went over to crazy bob’s and he tried to act like nothing was wrong or that I hadn’t spoken to him in 5+ years, but I kept the conversation about the horses ONLY and “are they yours or not!”
Yes or NO, I don’t have time for any other discussion. If they are not yours then that’s all I wanted to know—and actually I am not sure if they are his or not. He couldn’t find his horses but never gave me an answer about if they were his or not. I left.
He drove over here and wanted to talk more. I walked into the house and said if you think they are not your horses then I will call the sheriff’s office. He still didn’t know if they were his or not. He does have 4 horses that color.
I can’t believe anyone can be that DENSE and stupid! If you recall he is the one who sued me for $50K because the plane crash traumatized HIM so badly. Poor baby.
Well, I found out who the horses belonged to (another neighbor) and funny thing was Crazy Bob knew whose they were all the time, that is the reason I couldn’t get a yes or no answer out of him.
The neighbor was home this time when I went there to check with him, and he said Czy. Bob had come over and notified him that his horses were out and that I had been by asking about whose they were. The neighbor asked him why he hadn’t told me whose they were? He said “Oh, it wasn’t any of my business” LOL DUH?? Still don’t know what all that was about! LOL
There is no accounting for how they think. Elevator doesn’t go all the way to the top I don’t think.
I’ve found things in my yard…..NONE of them being horses!!!
(or paint cans for that matter!).
This isn’t the first time I’ve found horses. CB’s pigs and goats used to roam the neighborhood at will…and another neighbor’s cows (that guy didn’t bother to feed his cows so a fence won’t stop a hungry cow) so I’ve had more than one “come to Jesus meeting” with neighbors about them LETTING livestock roam—anyone can have one get out once in a while and that’s a different story. My horse got in heat and jumped the cattle guard a month or two back and went over to the neighbor’s gelding to pay a visit, and the neighbor put my mare back in and his wife called me. That’s just being a good neighbor. I would have been a good neighbor about that to CB even…but when he ALLOWED his stock to run out all the time I did tell him I would shoot them if he didn’t keep them up, so he kept them up from then on—or at least tried to. I can understand and tolerate someone who feeds their stock and tries to keep them in.
What I DON’T understand is why he “appeared” so friendly, while withholding information that he KNEW WHOSE THEY WERE (and BTW he HATES the guy whose stock they were so it isn’t like he was protecting a “friend or something.” head shaking here!
Then after I left his place when he wouldn’t give me a yes or no answer, he followed me over here to continue the “conversation”?? WTF was THAT all about? Still couldn’t get an answer out of him and didn’t want to listen to what he had to tell me on “how I should handle it,” LOL so I went inside and waved him off.
Not so much irritated as just have a WTF? feeling–but why am I wondering why a psychopath, and an ADHD one at that, does anything? LOL Maybe it is a head injury from his 5,000 parachute jumps when he was in the CIA,FBI and NAVY SEALS! LOL ROTFLMAO Yea,s he was in the same group with James Montgomery, Donna’s X husband! LOL ROTFLMAO CB even faked a VERY fake “scottish” or “Auzzie” accent when he first moved here–so thick you could have buttered pancakes with it, but so obviously PHONY it would make you puke! LOL I asked him where he grew up and he said “Little Rock, Arkansas” and I asked him “why do you talk like that? ” he said “Well, my NAME IS SCOTTISH!” LOL ROTFLMA choke snort snarf!
That is a really interesting story Oxy.
It was obvious that he is a P, just because he had the AUDACITY to sue you for having your husband die on his land. i would have countersued for having his land crash into your husband’s plane!
Now that we have established that he is a P, (AUDACIOUS behavior is a REDFLAG) we can look at the other REDFLAGS and be more certain that we are interpreting them correctly.
The one red flag that I am becoming aware of is CONFUSION.
I’m starting to understand that when I feel confused and “bothered” by someone’s behavior. When it keeps going around in my mind because I don’t get it. That means I’VE BEEN SLIMED! Yep. A narcissist has been in my presence and left slug-like marks on my brain.
Recently, I was listening to a man, Tim, talk about an older couple who asked him to help him sell their 2000 toyota camry with only 20,000 miles on it. They offered him $100 to find a buyer, but he politely declined payment saying, “aw, you don’t have to.” The matter was left at that. Then Tim found a buyer, the two partys met and agreed on a price, but the older couple didn’t bother to pay Tim and now they seem to be avoiding him. The situation itself doesn’t raise any flags, but Tim’s reaction to the situation tells me that he was slimed. It bothered him enough to ruminate on it and mention it to his friend (I was listening). It took me a day to realize that he was slimed.
That WTF?-feeling means you’ve been slimed. You aren’t wondering, you’re just feeling slimed. In “why is it always about you?” Sandy Hotchkiss, talks about it and how hard it is to get that feeling off of you.
I also believe that he “appeared” so friendly because that is part of the repertoire. They use the same old bag of tricks and the attempt at charm is step one – even when its inappropriate. Lastly, they will try to BOND with your neighbors by sharing a “secret”. that’s why he wouldn’t tell you whose horse it was. He was hoping that the neighbor would appreciate the loyalty and keep the secret with him.
The bad news is that CB seems to still be gunning for you or he wouldn’t be going thru these ridiculous charades. The good news is that he sounds like he’s as dumb as bricks.
Dear Skylar,
He is NOT the brightest bulb in the lamp that is for sure! I embarrassed him profoundly in the deposition (where my lawyer asked him questions in front of his lawyer under oath) I had primed my attorney to ask some EMBARRASSING questions because I knew the attorney for him was his cousin and his cousin didn’t know all the STUPID things he had done.
So my attorney asked several questions like “Sir, on DAte XYZ did you tell Mr. john Jones that you worked for the FBI, CIA, and were a NAVY SEAL?” Of course his cousin KNEW he hadn’t been any of those things. And he knew his cousin knew that wasn’t so,, so he was totally EMBARRASSED. His eyes got as BIG AS SAUCERS! LOL He almost choked on his tongue because he was under oath and he figured by the questions we had people who would testify that he had. He actually had said those things to those people (we named several) but we just made up the dates because we figured he couldn’t remember the dates either!!! LOL
There was a whole list of embarrassing things he had said and done that my attorney asked him about and just RUINED his presentation of being this poor guy who just needed money to get over the DEVASTATION he had suffered from my husband’s plane crashing that day.
After that day his attorney sent a letter to my attorney offering to drop the amount from $50K to $15K and my attorney sent a letter back saying, “Sir, there is not a jury in the state of Arkansas that would give your client a SINGLE DOLLAR for his damages, considering what that family has lost.” That was the END of the suit! Actually I think any jury would have LYNCHED him on the way out of the court house in this county! LOL
It just shows though that they have NO CONCEPT of how others feel about the gall for him to SUE my husband’s estate (actually me) for HIS “EMOTIONAL TRAUMA.” In fact, he even denied he did it when confronted by a neighbor and said, “I didn’t file it, I just talked to my lawyer and HE filed it.” (like the lawyer just filed it without his knowledge or consent! Like WTF? Lawyers just go around filing that kind of suit at random. LOL)
The papers were served on me 1-2 days before the 1 yr anniversary of my husband’s death and came unexpectedly so I literally just FELL OUT on my front porch and the poor little deputy who served them almost felt like he had kicked some poor sick dog or something. I have felt sorry for that young man ever since that day, bless his heart!
Your friend Tim’s “ah, you don’t have to do that” is the kind of politeness that the SELFISH people will take advantage of. If he said anything they would say “WELL, you SAID you didn’t want anything—we offered, but you SAID you didn’t want anything.”
That is the gaslighting way they twist things around—of course he may have said it, but if they had any CLASS they would have made him take more than the $100 in any case. I hope the check bounces. LOL
Yea, well that creep across the road left the county for several years. Actually I think he left because he thought it wasn’t safe after what he did filing the law suit. I literally had a couple of people OFFER TO KILL HIM, and one I know was serious as cancer. He’s been back a year or so though now but I haven’t talked to him and none of the other neighbors converse with him either.
But I wasn’t about to let horses wander loose on the roads because of the danger to traffic and I would even help HIM get his horses caught up if they were loose. The man who owned the horses had caught up my mare one night when she went hunting a “boy friend”—it’s just the RIGHT thing to do. For the horse’s sake if not for the owner’s.
I’m starting to feel sorry for the guys who actually ARE Navy Seals. I wonder if girls laugh at them when they say it.