Daryl Heiligsetzer
is a career con man whose deception inspired the memoirs
Spinning on a Barstool and SPUN
by author Glenda Toews.
Daryl and Glenda in Corky's 2020
Daryl Heiligsetzer entered our lives in 2019 using the name Daryl Schmidtt.
He presented himself as a wealthy casino magnate
from the Cayman Islands.
From 2020 to 2022 he posed as our friend and encouraged us to participate in investment opportunities he said would help support our friends, family, and community. With his help, we were preparing to launch The Foundation of Hope, an initiative intended to help address homelessness by working with youth in our community.
He encouraged us to think globally, inviting my adult daughters to become part of what he called the “do-gooder” branch of his Crystal Castle empire in Europe. According to him, they would be helping expand humanitarian projects, including providing aid to abandoned grandmothers in Ukraine.
None of it was real.
Daryl Heiligsetzer is a career con man from Calgary.
The story of how he entered our lives is told in my memoir
Spinning on a Barstool.
Inside that book I describe some of the stories he used to gain my trust, and how our friendship formed and continued until the day someone sent me a newspaper article—
At that point I had no idea how many other people he had manipulated.
I began writing a second book to answer questions readers of Spinning on a Barstool had. Within six months beginning that process, Daryl’s past began reaching out.
Childhood friends, former colleagues, and former girlfriends shared their stories with me.
Daryl has been manipulating people for a very long time.
Some of those experiences helped shape the psychological portrait of manipulation explored in
SPUN.
A waitress. A con man. The story the police wouldn’t touch.
Inside SPUN, we watch the evolution from boy to con man.
This page is dedicated to sharing publicly available information connected to Daryl. He is not currently in prison. The last information I received suggested he was in Duncan, British Columbia, traveling with a lady friend.
If you have current information you wish to share, please contact me and I will update the website.
Daryl is not unique in his methods.
Con artists often use similar strategies of trust, friendship, opportunity, and emotional manipulation.
Inside SPUN, I include a Con Checklist designed to help readers recognize warning signs.
Because sometimes predators pose as friends—smiling at you, waving from a barstool.
"I am this"
Daryl sent me this picture with the caption;
"I am this"
shortly after I found out who he really was.
Also in the news
Daryl at Corkys 2020
This is the photo 'Tina Hoffmeister' sent me the day Daryl was allegedly
'hit by a truck' in Montreal
Daryl at his favorite spot at The Bone in Corky's Pub
these are photos others have shared on social media
Daryl claimed this was his fiancée.
Over a two-year period I received hundreds of emails from “Tina Hoffmeister.”
The photos he sent of Tina were actually images of a model found on Shutterstock.
He also claimed to have a personal assistant named Lyndsay, who he said modeled a pink diamond necklace he had commissioned for Tina.
Neither woman exists.
The necklace image was found on Pinterest.
There is no Tina Hoffmeister.
There is no personal assistant Lyndsay.
Daryl created these identities himself.
All of those emails were from him.
If you have verified information or relevant documentation you would like to share, please contact me..