Former soldier discharged for defrauding 60+ women, faces state felony charges
By Quinn Ritzdorf
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FORT CARSON, Colorado (KRDO) — A former Fort Carson soldier is facing state felony charges for defrauding women. He was recently discharged from the Army for the same scheme.
On April 26, at a general Fort Carson court martial, Sgt. Gavin Pobst pleaded guilty to eight counts of larceny, one count of violating a general order, and one count of wire fraud. He was sentenced to 270 days of confinement, reduction to E-1, forfeiture of $1,000 per month for 2 months, and a bad conduct discharge.
“Was it fair? No, he definitely deserved a bigger punishment than that,” said Ashley Yanez, one of the alleged victims. “I don’t feel like 6 to 9 months was enough for what he did, especially with the amount of money he stole.”
The Army found Yanez was one of more than 60 other women who Probst defrauded over a two year period. According to court records, Probst’s main scheme was to befriend women through different dating apps and then have them pay him for different activities, including sporting events, concerts, or even weekend trips. Probst would pocket the money instead of buying anything.
“I thought I was going to go watch a UFC fight with a friend,” Yanez said. “Turns out he is just a liar.”
Yanez gave Probst about $150. When she asked him to pay her back, she said he blocked her on all social media. Two weeks later she stumbled on a Facebook group called, “Victims of Gavin Pobst.” The group includes more than 80 members.
“I was honestly very speechless but more hurt that he would do this to other women to the extent that he did it to,” Yanez said. “None of them deserve this whatsoever.”
Other victims told KRDO13 Investigates they paid him hundreds of dollars for a trip to Breckenridge that never happened or how he logged into their bank accounts to send himself money.
“He scammed all these women for thousands of dollars,” Yanez said. “$200 could not compare to the financial damage that he put other women through.”
According to court documents, Pobst knew the Army was looking into these claims for months and in late April even knew he was being court-martialed. Yet the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office found he defrauded women up until the day he was sentenced, leading to two state felony cases against Pobst.
Pobst was arrested last week and faces multiple felony charges, including money laundering, identity theft, unauthorized use of a financial transaction device, criminal impersonation, and theft.
KRDO13 Investigates obtained the arrest affidavits for both cases. Like the other victims, Pobst met the two women on a dating app. He tricked one of the women into sending him money for Colorado Rockies tickets.
Investigators learned Pobst used the money he took from these women for sports gambling and to buy homemade porn videos. According to court documents, a criminal investigator with the Colorado Department of Revenue said Pobst was involved in about $30,000 worth of suspicious deposits and withdrawals through 14 different DraftKings accounts. Many of these accounts include personal information and the bank accounts of women he allegedly scammed.
This is what happened to a woman at the center of the other criminal case. Pobst convinced the woman to open a sports betting account and to give him access to it. Court documents said Pobst would make $25 to $300 bets multiple times a day without the woman’s permission. Pobst promised to pay her back but never did. He owes her more than $5,000.
Pobst is due in court next week for both of these criminal cases. Fort Carson declined an interview about the case.
“I’m disappointed in myself to ever have considered such a person a friend,” Yanez said. “I’m also very disgusted in the fact that he represented the Army.”
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