‘Sweetheart Swindler’ Pleads No Contest to Grand Theft

Leslie Gall, the so-called “Sweetheart Swindler,” pleaded no contest Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court to grand theft for taking $54,000 worth of stocks and bonds from a Pico Rivera woman he was dating.

The 62-year-old woman was one of two widows the 56-year-old Gall was seeing when he was arrested May 13 in Redondo Beach on two Florida warrants, police said. Florida authorities had been seeking the Canadian-born ex-convict for more than a year on charges that he stole tens of thousands of dollars from women he met at senior citizens’ dances.

Initially, neither of the Los Angeles County women wanted to press charges. However, the Pico Rivera woman, who asked that her name not be used, said she changed her mind after reading news reports about the accusations against him.

Gall was arrested by Redondo Beach police after the daughter-in-law of a woman in that city alerted authorities that she was suspicious about the man her mother-in-law was seeing. With the aid of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the daughter-in-law learned that Gall--who had been using the alias George Perkins--had served time in Canadian prisons for defrauding businesses and was being sought for allegedly stealing from elderly women he had dated in Ft. Lauderdale and Clearwater, Fla.

It was one of the Florida women, a 69-year-old divorcee, who dubbed him “The Sweetheart Swindler.”

When Gall was caught, police said, he was carrying a briefcase containing several pieces of false identification, obituaries of wealthy men, news clippings about successful con jobs, and the Pico Rivera woman’s stock certificates, her blank checks and a set of keys to her home.

The Pico Rivera woman said she was unaware that her valuables were missing until police contacted her. She said that she had once allowed Gall to use her car, and that while he was out, he had made an extra set of keys. He had apparently let himself into her home while she was out, removing the certificates from a file drawer in her spare room, she said.

Deputy Public Defender Ross Klein said Gall faces a maximum of four years in prison. Sentencing will be July 5 in Norwalk Superior Court. Gall was in custody in Los Angeles County Jail.