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Con man Timothy Szabolcsi shot dead in Surrey, B.C.

Timothy Szabolcsi, a former Manitoban who used multiple identities to scam companies and deceive women across North America, has been found shot dead in Surrey, B.C.

Surrey RCMP said Szabolcsi's body was found inside a home in the 2400 block of 156 Street on Friday morning.

Investigators are treating his death as a homicide. No arrests have been made at this time.

An RCMP spokesperson said Monday that Szabolcsi, 52, was shot in what appears to be a targeted attack, and someone called police from inside the home.

Szabolcsi was known to police and had been living in Surrey at the time of his death, the spokesperson added.

Szabolcsi grew up in Selkirk, Man., and lived in Winnipeg for a while after high school, but he later presented himself in Canada and the United States as a doctor, a NASCAR driver, a pilot, a youth pastor and a professional hockey player, an investigation by the CBC News I-Team uncovered last year.

His latest ex-wife, Sheri Brown, told the I-Team she knew nothing of Szabolcsi's criminal past at first, and he had told her he was a retired Beverly Hills doctor and former Winnipeg Jet.

"So he sounded like he lived this amazing life, and I found out a different reality after the fact," she said in an interview last fall.

Brown said she lost tens of thousands of dollars supporting Szabolcsi, cashing in her RRSPs.

She later learned that Szabolcsi had a history as Dr. Andrew Szadolc, who was imprisoned after scamming Texas Healthcare Systems out of $30,000 US.

The Texas Medical Board ruled that Szadolc had fabricated medical identification and impersonated a doctor in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

He was sentenced to five years in prison for felony theft in October 2009, but he was paroled and deported back to Canada in 2010.

Another ex-wife, Sandra Szadolc, told U.S. media she learned that her former husband's identity and social insurance numbers were all fake.

Szabolcsi's past even raised concerns in Winnipeg, where he lived briefly after he was sent back to Canada.

He had started volunteering with the North West Minor Hockey Association, but a group of parents stopped his bid to coach a team of 12-year-olds after raising concerns about his demands for sums of money up front.

On Monday, Brown told CBC News she had not been in contact with Szabolcsi for about 10 months and their divorce went through 1½ months ago.

"Unfortunately, Timothy chose to live his life through dishonesty and [deceit]," she wrote in an email.

"When you destroy enough people financially and play with emotions you are bound to run into someone who takes it a step further. My heart goes out to his family."