( dpa )- New Zealand police arrested Wednesday a man alleged to be the cheeky conman who robbed a family of Canadian tourists and had a meal at their expense after tricking an Auckland hotel receptionist into giving him their room key.
When Peter Malcolm Black, 42, unemployed, appeared in court charged with entering a city hotel with intent to commit a crime and obtaining food and alcohol by deception, it was revealed that his name was the same as his victims.
The arrest followed reports that a man pretending to be drunk posed as Canadian Ricky Black to get his hotel key, ransacked his suite, used his name to eat a meal in the restaurant and signed for a liqueur in the bar before leaving with three bags containing valuables, money and passports.
Ricky Black, his wife Evelyn and their three children had left the hotel for dinner on Saturday evening when the conman, who was believed to have seen their name on baggage tags in the lobby earlier in the day, went to the reception desk and said, "I'm Black. Can I have my room key?"
The defendant was remanded in custody to reappear in the Auckland District Court on Thursday.