Regina man searching for answers after online meeting ends in robbery

A Regina man is looking for answers after he said he was robbed with a machete when he went to buy an item he found online back in March. The accused is currently wanted by police, but as recently as last week, he had more items up for sale.

“I’m still scared even though it’s been six or seven months, I’m still watching my back,” 19-year-old robbery victim Austin Hogg said.

It’s a situation Hogg describes as terrifying and it all started when he found an Xbox for sale in Marketplace on Facebook. But when he went to buy the item on March 19 at a house in the 1200 block of Rae Street, things took a turn for the worse.

“There were two guys and when we got into the bedroom one of the guys asked me if I had the money with me and I said ‘yes.’ The other guy that was with him he moved towards this duffel bag and he was shuffling through it and I expected the Xbox to come out; that’s when the other guy came to me and started to pull a weapon out,” Hogg said.

Hogg said the weapon appeared to be a machete and says that’s when he pulled the money out of his back pocket, handed it to the man and got out of there as fast as he could.

“He kept saying to me it wasn’t personal,” Hogg said.

“I was pretty scared, I was shaken and I was kind of speechless. I didn’t know what was going to happen, who knows what they could have done to me.”

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The incident resulted in the arrest of 21-year-old Jared Jared Asapace, who is also charged in connection with two other similar schemes. After investigating, police charged Asapace with two counts of robbery and one count of fraud under $5,000.

Currently, there’s a warrant out for his arrest after he failed to appear in court on Aug. 1. But the story doesn’t end there. As recently as last week, Asapace added more items for sale online, including an Xbox, four smartphones and several bikes.

“Eventually we will find that person, if he’s continuing to perpetrate other crimes than any victim needs to contact us,” Regina Police Service spokesperson, Elizabeth Popowich said.

“We can’t automatically know where someone is because of an online post and so the ability to locate him is somewhat limited. But if there’s a warrant for his arrest, we are making attempts to locate him, but that would be among all the other assignments that police have in their investigations and in responding to emergency calls and calls for service.”

It’s because of cases like this, some jurisdictions across Canada have set up zones outside police stations where people buying and selling online can exchange items in a safe location.

Peel Regional Police in Ontario launched its buy and sell exchange zones in 2016 and Lethbridge Police Service in Alberta followed suit the following year. Both police stations say cameras monitor the spots and there have been no complaints or major problems since they were put in place. However, Regina police seem unsure of the idea.

“I would be curious to know if other jurisdictions have had a lot of success with it,” Popowich said. “It seems that even if you had a so-called safe zone, there are still some risks associated with it.”

But Hogg said it would have made a difference and until Asapace is arrested he says the police should be warning others.

“I just want other kids to know, just be careful what you’re buying out there and who you’re buying from,” Hogg said.