Kyle Baumgardner put up an online ad last December to sell his cellphone. It didn’t take long for an “interested buyer” to get in touch with him, offering him $500. Baumgardner agreed to meet the person in a northeast Calgary community.
But immediately after showing him the phone, it was ripped from his hands.
“I was holding the phone and he took it right out of my hand. It was a matters of seconds and he was already gone,” Baumgardner said.
It turns out that phone was resold to an unsuspecting teenager who handed over $460 to a criminal. Thirteen-year-old Taysha Andersen-Fraser had no idea it had been previously stolen.
“It was all of my allowance and birthday and Christmas money. It took me six months to save up for all of it,” Andersen-Fraser said.
Her grandmother Gail Fraser warned the seller, hoping he was trustworthy.
“I said, ‘I hope you’re legitimate, this is my granddaughter’s life savings.’
“We trusted him. He seemed like a very nice man,” Fraser said.
Just a few weeks later, a member of the Calgary Police Service showed up at her door to seize the stolen phone.
“That kind of scared me,” Andersen-Fraser said. “I thought I did something wrong.”
The officer was Det. Darcy Williams.
“That day was one of the worst in a long time: having to seize a phone from a 13-year-old, even though it was stolen,” Williams said.
“I have a job to do, but I am empathetic.”
Williams is a dad and a coach of his daughter’s Okotoks hockey team. Ella Glubish, a 15-year-old player, knew something was wrong when Williams got to the rink later that day.
“Coach Darcy came into the dressing room and we knew something wasn’t quite right, and he told us the story and our whole team felt really bad for her,” Glubish said.
In the spirit of teamwork, they raised money to buy the phone back for Andersen-Fraser. Tasia Miller, 17, said they felt rewarded helping out.
“The whole year we work on ourselves and it’s nice to do something for someone else and not have the focus on just the team,” Miller said.
The girls raised enough money during a weekend bottle drive. They arranged to pay Baumgardner, who gave them a reduced rate.
“I never thought I would see the phone again. After hearing her story, I wanted to make it right and only have one victim out of this,” Baumgardner said.
“When you’re a coach, people expect you to teach hockey and I’m big on teaching them to be a mentor and life skills and knowing right from wrong and I’m proud of them,” Williams said.
Andersen-Fraser and her family said they were moved by the gesture.
“It’s honestly really surprising. Not many people would do that for someone they don’t even know,” Andersen-Fraser said.
“It was amazing to see that this officer went above and beyond and brought it outside his profession. He showed a lot of heart to make sure Taysha had a phone,” Fraser said. “I was very emotional.
“I had tears of gratitude.”
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