Scam artist attempts to outsprint a reporter who turns out to be a runner

Sometimes being a runner can pay off in unexpected ways… like chasing down a scam artist.

That was the case for Sean O’Shea, an investigative and consumer reporter with Global News, during a June 2 encounter with a landscaper who robbed a customer out of $100 by failing to finish the job he was hired to do. O’Shea, who is based in Toronto, is an advocate for consumer rights and responds to situations where people have been scammed, over-charged or wrongfully billed.

“I’m often the grease on the wheels in helping consumers get their own remedy from a company,” explains O’Shea, who has worked for Global for almost 29 years.

Local resident Nazmina Ladha, who is unable to do yard work herself, paid Carmelo Lamanna $100 in exchange for lawn care services but the work was never done. When her calls to the lawn care company went unanswered, she contacted O’Shea, who confronted Lamanna about his unfinished work.

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When Lamanna, who sports a personalized Toronto Raptors jersey in the below videos, darts off to try to evade O’Shea, the reporter yells out “I’m a marathoner,” in the video. It’s followed by various clips of the landscaper trying to escape in a car. One scene includes him punching the cameraman, who is now off work for more than a week after twisting his knee while filming the June 2 incident.

“In this case, it wasn’t about the money,” says O’Shea. “The customer didn’t want to see others get ripped off.”

News report

Additional footage

O’Shea, who completed a pair of half-marathons last year, including one in Oakville and the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Half, gets most of his training done on the weekends. He ran 2:15:27 at the Toronto half-marathon in October and has also taken part in Mud Heros and Tough Mudders in the past. He also completed the CN Tower Climb in April, though with minimal training.

Update (9 p.m.): O’Shea did admit that he has not run a marathon despite his remark during the encounter.

He does lots of cross-training and plenty of pilates as well, which he fits into his busy schedule. He answers 300-400 phone calls and emails from consumers per month and begins the day with an editorial meeting followed by work on consumer files.

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He enjoys running from St. Lawrence through Toronto’s financial district and along the waterfront, and prefers busier areas since he was based in the suburbs of Oakville for 25-plus years before moving to Toronto. O’Shea began running three years ago, a trend he attributes to “trying to keep up with the younger people, especially the interns, at the office.”

In addition to last Thursday’s incident, O’Shea has used his running to his advantage on past occasions including one instance in 2014 when he ran after a paving contractor and his girlfriend for eight minutes after not finishing a job valued up to $8,500.

Though he’s been battling a nagging knee injury for the past six weeks, he experienced no pain when chasing the landscape scammer in the latest Global News story.

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“Sometimes I’m not the best for long-term training,” says O’Shea.

Though O’Shea wasn’t hurt during the recent run-in, he says his wife wasn’t too happy with him chasing down the landscaper. “Would I run after him again? I don’t know,” says O’Shea.