While the name Dene Broadbelt may not mean much to you, to many in the creative industry around Australia, his name, along with others including Dean Mussillon, Nic Lloyd, and Clay O’Connor, are nothing short of notorious.
Dene Broadbelt, Dean Mussillon, Nic Lloyd, and Clay O’Connor, as well as Harrison O’Connor, are in fact all the same person – 21-year-old con artist Dene Broadbelt, who’s systematically scammed dozens of people around the country.
Now, it appears as though Broadbelt has resurfaced and under characteristically bizarre circumstances. While Broadbelt cut his teeth by scamming young musicians and photography and limo services, he’s now moved into the world of real estate.
According to an 18th March report via The Standard, the infamous Broadbelt recently turned up in south-west Victoria trying to set up a real estate agency, even going so far as to trying to recruit staff.
There was only one problem – that report came days after Broadbelt’s supposed death. According to a statement received by Tone Deaf on Tuesday morning via a Mr Jason Blackford, Broadbelt took his own life on Saturday night.
Blackford’s statement claimed that a memorial service would be held “ASAP”, requesting donations to World Vision in lieu of flowers, and providing a mobile phone number purported to be Broadbelt’s mother, Suzanne.
Naturally, there were several abnormalities within the statement. According to Blackford’s email, Broadbelt’s mother was not to be contacted “unless the matter is urgent” and Blackford even quoted from Broadbelt’s supposed suicide note.
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“Although it was stated in his suicide letter that was discovered the words ‘Noel Sadler was the reason behind this and he will get his day and I’ve made sure of that,'” Blackford wrote disturbingly. The email ended with a link to a Google search of Broadbelt’s name.
Now, The Standard is reporting that the news of Broadbelt’s suicide was indeed a hoax. Broadbelt has spent the past few weeks in the country Victorian town of Timboon, raising the suspicions of locals with his big plans and brash style.
Posing as a real estate agent, Broadbelt’s facade was blown on Monday night by two young local residents, who, after discovering the conman’s past, confronted him via social media. Broadbelt’s phone number was soon found to be disconnected and his Facebook page shut down.
Meanwhile, news of Broadbelt’s “suicide” was making the rounds on radio industry websites (Broadbelt had previously been employed by several community stations as on-air talent), but was taken down after reports of him alive and well in Timboon after his supposed death surfaced.
Broadbelt was apparently seen in a local cafe conducting job interviews on Sunday and active on social media on Monday. He’d apparently been in the town since last month, operating under the alias Harrison Eyles, recruiting young adults to work for his ‘real estate business’.
Broadbelt told prospective workers he was the managing director of Coast and Country Real Estate and conducted face-to-face interviews, trawling through Facebook to recruit young employees. On several occasions he left a business card bearing the name Harrison O’Connor.
In a particularly bold move, Broadbelt attended a meeting of the Timboon Action Group to touch base with local businesses and wrote of his plans to open an agency that mirrored Melbourne metropolitan-style agencies in a subsequent letter to the association.
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His letter claimed the local market was “over-saturated by respectfully older-style agents and agencies with old ideas and values” and that “my competitors are playing golf twice a week or bowls”. Investigations later revealed that ‘Harrison Eyles’ does not hold a Victorian real estate licence.
Broadbelt also returned to his old MO of seeking time-wasting quotes from local businesses, including local tradespeople, and placed tentative orders for three new vehicles from a local dealership and made inquiries about a premises in Port Campbell.
However, one of Broadbelt’s prospective employees did the detective work of checking out some of his claims. “I thought he was dodgy from the start,” they told The Standard. “On Monday night when we figured it out we sent him a message saying we knew about his past. Fifteen minutes later his phone was down and his Facebook page gone.”
At the moment, it is unknown where Broadbelt is residing. The Standard understands that the confidence artist had successfully applied for bankruptcy, listing debts of about $250,000.
“He’ll definitely pop up again somewhere else,” said film director Noel Sadler, spokesman for the Dene Broadbelt Support Group for victims. “He will not give up till he has the appropriate help with his issues.”
Meanwhile, Radioinfo editor Peter Saxon said that judging by public feedback, the “suicide” email, which was supplied to several media outlets including Tone Deaf, was probably written by Broadbelt.
