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Doctor Impersonator Admits He Conned Female Friend

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By VALERIE KALFRIN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 8, 2008

TAMPA - A man police accused of being a con artist pleaded guilty to a felony grand theft charge today, admitting he had stolen $750 from a Bay area woman while purporting to be a doctor.

Jordan Gann, 27, of Methuen, Mass., will remain in custody at Orient Road Jail until his sentencing March 7.

Jordan Gann

He faces up to five years in prison.

Before determining the sentence, Circuit Judge Robert Foster wants more information on an earlier conviction that netted Gann two years in a Florida state prison, he said.

Prosecutors and police say Gann claimed to be a medical doctor and offered financial help to a woman he befriended in September. He told her he would deposit $100,000 in a joint account for her if she first paid him $750, prosecutors said.

To substantiate his credentials, Gann showed the woman documents including paperwork stating he owned a $2.3 million condominium in Clearwater, prosecutors said.

The woman met with Gann at WestShore Plaza with the cash, but she changed her mind, prosecutors said. He snatched the money from her and ran, prosecutors said.

Tampa police arrested Gann on Oct. 14 at Hattricks Tavern, a pub and restaurant at 107 S. Franklin St. At the time, one of the pub's co-owners said Gann claimed to be an attorney for Marriott International who wanted to throw a corporate party at the pub, spending at least $15,000.

The pub never entered into a deal with Gann. The co-owner used the Internet to check the name Gann had given him, found crime news stories with his picture and called police.

Gann has an identical twin brother, Simon Gann, police said. He uses his twin brother's name as well as the names Simon Wilkes, Charles Morales, Dr. Shawn Cohen and Dr. Jonathan Marino, police said.

Public records show Gann served two years in a Florida prison after pleading no contest in 2004 to a felony grand-theft charge.

A Panama City police report states that two Realtors filed a complaint after Gann took off with a computer they bought him. The Realtors, both women, say in the report that Gann posed as a doctor and convinced them he had several million dollars to invest in real estate, so they bought him the computer.

Reporter Valerie Kalfrin can be reached at (813) 259-7800 or vkalfrin@tampatrib.com.

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