Prime Time Crime is collected and published by Leo Knight, a former Canadian police officer, security expert and media commentator. Site edited by Chris. Created Jan. 2003
|
Pri
POLICE LINE DO NOT CROSS
POLICE LINE DO NOT CROSS
Links
|
|
www PrimeTimeCrime |
Have we missed a good story? Click here to send us the link.
LA Times
FARAH PROVINCE - Gunmen and bombers stormed the governor's compound in a southwestern Afghan province Thursday. Afghan police managed to repel the assault, which left 11 people dead - 6 police officers, a civilian and all 4 attackers - according to government officials. (LA Times)
MORE: Compound attack Deadly attack
QIAOJIA COUNTY - This much is known: last Thursday, at the start of business hours in Qiaojia county, in the remote northeastern corner of China’s Yunnan province, someone walked to the front door of a local government office and blew themself up. The other facts of the case – such as who the bomber was and why they did it - remain hotly disputed a week after the bombing, which shocked China and left 4 people dead and 16 others injured. (Globe & Mail)
PREVIOUS: Explosion caused by villager Relocation prompts explosion
Misbahuddin Ahmed Khurram Syed Sher
OTTAWA - New charges were laid this week in the terrorism investigation dubbed Project Samossa. Two indictments and three new charges were filed Wednesday by the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, dating back to the investigation which began in 2010. Participation in the activities of a terrorist group is one of the new charges against Hiva Mohammad Alizadeh, 32, and Misbahuddin Ahmed, 28. They are also charged with conspiracy to facilitate terrorist activity and having or making explosives. The other indictment shows Khurram Syed Sher, 30, charged with conspiracy to facilitate terrorist activity. (QMI)
MORE: Straight to trial New charges laid Alleged plotters go directly to trial
PREVIOUS: Suspects profiles
The Canada Border Services Agency added 6 more people to its Wanted list on Wednesday, including a woman. The agency launched a website last July with profiles of 30 individuals suspected or convicted of crimes and believed to be hiding out in Canada illegally, and enlisted the public's help in finding the fugitives. To date, the CBSA has located 25 wanted people in Canada, of which it has removed 17 from the country. 5 others on the list were found abroad. (QMI)
OTTAWA - The Harper government called in the RCMP to investigate a politically embarrassing story involving the decision to sole-source the purchase of the F-35 stealth fighter, claiming it was a breach of national security. Records obtained under the Access to Information Act show investigators had doubts almost from the outset in July 2010 that any laws were broken in the Globe and Mail story. Still, the review pressed ahead and drew in one of the RCMP's four Integrated National Security Enforcement Teams, whose job it is to chase terrorism threats. It was shut down in December 2010 for lack of evidence. (CP)
OTTAWA - The office of Canada’s military Ombudsman has become dysfunctional, with an employee turnover rate of 50%, complaints about sexist and off-colour jokes, and some investigations into issues affecting soldiers dragging on for years, say former and current staff. Some have labelled the environment in the Ottawa office as poisonous and they blame the problems on Pierre Daigle, a former major-general appointed Ombudsman for the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Forces in February 2009. (Ottawa Citizen)
PREVIOUS: Cost 7 times estimate Quietly awarded $105M contract Military cold-weather challenged
OTTAWA - The Harper government struck back at a UN envoy Wednesday, saying he was "ill-informed" and "patronizing" and had no business "lecturing" Canada about hunger and poverty. The terse comments, delivered by Immigration Minister Jason Kenney and Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq, came after Olivier De Schutter, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, told Postmedia News that people shouldn't be so "self-righteous" about how great Canada is, given how many families are unable meet their daily food needs. (PostMedia)
PREVIOUS: 'Self-righteous' Canada Greed & Corruption United Nations
RELATED: Budget cuts upsetting the Entitled
3 officials on the Poundmaker Cree Nation awaiting sentencing for stealing from the band are running for re-election on Friday. Last month, Chief Duane Antoine and band councillors Colin Favel and Bryan Tootoosis pleaded guilty in court to theft. All three are confirmed candidates in the vote set for Friday. (CBC)
PREVIOUS: Guilty pleas entered Charges over treaty money First Nations
HAGUE - The judge in Ratko Mladic’s war crimes trial on Thursday indefinitely delayed the presentation of evidence due to “errors” by prosecutors in disclosing evidence to defence lawyers - a ruling that throws the future of the trial into question. (AFP)
PREVIOUS: Prosecutor v. Ratko Mladic Mladic on trial
Tomas Angeles Dauahare
MEXICO CITY - Two Mexican generals, including the former deputy minister of defense who helped lead the escalation of the country's war against drug gangs, are being investigated for ties to organized crime, an official at the attorney general's office said on Wednesday. Mexican soldiers on Tuesday detained Tomas Angeles Dauahare, who served as the army's second in command until 2008, and Roberto Dawe Gonzalez, who led an elite unit in the state of Colima, and turned them over for questioning to the country's organized crime unit. (Reuters)
MORE: Generals giving statements
Mark Guardado Christopher Ablett
SAN FRANCISCO - A Mongols motorcycle club member was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday for the murder of the president of the San Francisco chapter of the Hells Angels, the US Attorney’s Office said. Christopher Bryan Ablett, 39, killed 46-year-old Mark “Papa” Guardado on Sept. 2, 2008, outside a Mission district bar near 24th and Treat streets. (San Francisco Examiner)
MORE: Ablett case FBI press release
PREVIOUS: Bikers
NEW YORK - A rare slip-up by lawyers has helped to shed some rather interesting light on a high-profile legal battle, the details of which some of the largest Wall Street firms have been fighting to keep under wraps. In 2007 Overstock, a Utah-based online retailer, sued a dozen big brokers, alleging that they had caused its share price to fall sharply by helping their clients to engage in “naked” short selling. As the pre-trial discovery period proceeded, Overstock narrowed its focus to two firms, Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch now part of Bank of America. (Economist)
MORE: Embarrassing documents
COMMENT: Floren screws the pooch
RELATED: Why regulatory agencies don't work Endangered public company
National Post
TORONTO - Poor planning by the RCMP, OPP and Toronto police for the G20 summit, along with orders by a Toronto deputy police chief to “take back the streets," are to blame for the more than 1,100 arrests during the 2010 weekend summit, says the province's top civilian police watchdog. (CBC)
REPORT: G20 Systemic review report .pdf
MORE: Police acted illegally Police trampled 'basic rights of citizens' Poor police communication G20 report identifies officer Chief Blair defensive
PREVIOUS: RCMP member conduct related to the 2010 G8 and G20 Summits RCMP acted reasonably Mounties objected to kettling Report clears RCMP TPS, OPP called the shots
RELATED: Not guilty in G20 explosives trial
MONTREAL - A federal move to regulate mask-wearing at large gatherings could face a litmus test as early as this week, as events in Montreal help foreshadow whether such a plan will do more good or harm. A local bylaw under discussion might offer an early demonstration of whether such a ban actually cuts down on violent protest - or helps inflame it, while creating additional headaches for police and backlogs in the justice system. (PostMedia)
MORE: Montreal bylaw could offer preview
COMMENT: Mask bill a useful tool
PREVIOUS: Bill C-309 More on the proposed mask law
KINGSTON - A retired RCMP officer from Bath has filed a complaint with the Auditor General of Canada demanding members of the federal police force have access to more mental health treatment programs. Eric Rebiere, 54, who in 2006 left the police force after 24 years, said the federal government has refused to fund treatment for RCMP officers suffering post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other occupational stress injuries (OSI). (Kingston Whig-Standard)
PREVIOUS: Police
EDMONTON - With Ontario making the first move to reduce doctors' fees for hundreds of services, Alberta is now saying it too wants to overhaul the way it pays its doctors. Alberta Health Minister Fred Horne says his province is looking to overhaul its physician pay formula and wants to be part of national discussions on how to rein in escalating fees. (CTV)
PREVIOUS: Call to regulate Health pay
VANCOUVER - 2 people have been charged for their alleged involvement with a migrant vessel that brought 429 illegal immigrants to Canada in the summer of 2010. RCMP said Kunarobinson Christhurajah and Lesly Jana Emmanuel have each been charged with one count of organizing entry into Canada, contrary to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. It's alleged Christhurajah and Emmanuel were involved with the MV Sun Sea, which brought the immigrants to Canada in Aug. 2010. (QMI)
ATHENS - Greece will hold a new election in June after days of talks failed to resolve the country's political deadlock, party leaders said Tuesday. The May 6 election left no party with enough votes for a majority in parliament and repeated efforts over 9 days to cobble together a coalition government proved fruitless. (AP)
MORE: Groping towards Grexit Greek election June 17 Greeks pull funds from banks Euro at risk
PREVIOUS: Comedy of power Greek legislative election 2012 Global Meltdown
BOGOTA - Colombia’s attorney general confirmed the arrest of 12 politicians in the Caribbean province of Magdalena on charges they won electoral support from right-wing paramilitaries by promising to funnel public money to the gunmen. Nearly 100 serving or former officials, including prominent members of Colombia’s Congress, have been convicted since the parapolitica investigations began in 2006, spurred by the revelation of formal pacts linking politicians to leaders of the since-demobilized AUC militia federation. (EFE)
MORE: Colombian parapolitics scandal Bomb kills 2, wounds 39
WASHINGTON - The former head of US counter-espionage says the Harper government is putting North American security at risk by allowing a giant Chinese technology company to participate in major Canadian telecommunications projects. In an exclusive interview in Washington, Michelle K. Van Cleave told CBC News the involvement of Huawei Technologies in Canadian telecom networks risks turning the information highway into a freeway for Chinese espionage against both the US and Canada. Huawei has long argued there is no evidence linking the company to the growing tidal wave of international computer hacking and other forms of espionage originating in China. (CBC)
MORE: How telecom systems can be compromised
BEIJING - Chinese police cracked 101,700 drug-related criminal cases and captured 112,400 related suspects in 2011, the National Narcotics Control Commission (NNCC) said. Police last year seized 7.08 tonnes of heroin and 14.32 tonnes of crystal methamphetamine, a year-on-year increase of 32.1% and 44.9%, respectively, according to an annual report on drug control released by the NNCC. Police also confiscated 1,834.78 tonnes of chemicals used to manufacture narcotics last year. (Xinhua)
IDLIB - At least 21 people have been killed when Syrian security forces opened fire on a funeral procession in the central town of Khan Sheikhoun, in Idlib province, during a visit of UN monitors. A spokesman of the rebel military council gave a higher death toll, saying at least 50 people were killed in Tuesday's attack during which a car belonging to the UN team was hit. The activists said the observers were not among the wounded, but their vehicles were damaged. (Jazeera)
MORE: 15th month of strife
PREVIOUS: Syrian uprising Bashar al-Assad R2P
Fashi Mohammadi
TEHRAN - A man convicted of killing an Iranian nuclear scientist in Tehran two years ago has been hanged, Iran's state media report. Majid Jamali Fashi, 24, was convicted of killing Professor Massoud Ali Mohammadi by detonating a bomb outside his home in January 2010. Fashi was also accused of being a spy for the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad and receiving $120,000 for the killing. (BBC)
MORE: Hanging
'Little Monsters' take on militants
JAKARTA - A decision by Indonesian national police to ban a sold-out June 3 performance in Jakarta by the American pop star Lady Gaga, which has already sold a whopping 52,000 tickets, has pushed the country’s laid-back urbanites into outrage at the country’s thin crust of Islamic militants. (Asia Sentinel)
MORE: Police say permit denied for show
Emanuela Orlandi Enrico De Pedis
ROME - On Monday, the tomb of mafioso Enrico "Renatino" De Pedis, shot dead in a Rome square in 1990 was opened. His body was there, inside a three-layer sarcophagus, well preserved and wearing a dark blue suit and black tie. Police took fingerprints and confirmed his identity. But also, tucked inside a niche of the ancient crypt were dozens of boxes containing unidentified human bones. (Guardian UK)
MORE: Police open mobsters tomb
LONDON - Rebekah Brooks, the former chief executive of News International, has been charged over allegations that she tried to conceal evidence from detectives investigating phone hacking and alleged bribes to public officials The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) announced that Brooks, one of the most high-profile figures in the newspaper industry, would be charged with three counts of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice in July last year at the height of the police investigation. Scotland Yard later confirmed she had been charged along with her husband, Charlie Brooks, and four others. (Guardian UK)
MORE: Editor charged Brooks charged with perverting course of justice
PREVIOUS: News International phone hacking scandal
Robert Champion
ORLANDO - Florida A&M University has suspended its celebrated marching band indefinitely as it grapples with the beating death of a drum major and an ongoing probe into the band’s culture of violent hazing. The band has been on suspension since the November 2011 hazing death of 26-year-old drum major Robert Champion during a road trip to Orlando. (Reuters)
MORE: Suspended indefinitely
DELHI - 5 domestic Indian Premier League players were suspended from cricket on Tuesday after a sting operation by a local TV channel highlighted alleged fixing and corruption. (AFP)
NEWARK - A Nigerian man used the identity of the victim in an unsolved murder to hide his status as an illegal immigrant while working undetected for two decades as a security guard and then a security supervisor at one of the US’ busiest airports. The arrest of Bimbo Olumuyiwa Oyewole came on the day a federal report found the Transportation Security Administration’s handling of security breaches at the airport, Newark Liberty International, deficient. (AP)
Most expensive, least reliable
Pickering Nuclear Generating Station
TORONTO - The economic performance of Ontario Power Generation’s Pickering nuclear stations is among the worst in the world, says a report (.pdf) prepared for the Ontario Energy Board. Not only is it the most expensive to operate, it lags at the far end of the pack in terms of reliability, with some units shut down almost 40% of the time. (Toronto Star)
OTTAWA - The Conservative government is thinning the ranks of executives in Canada’s public service because there are too many of the high-priced senior managers. The federal budget also announced that 600 executive jobs will disappear as departments trim $5.2B from their budgets and 19,200 jobs from payroll over the next 3 years. The executive cadre has grown like topsy over the past 12 years and a spokesman for Treasury Board President Tony Clement said some of those jobs are simply “unnecessary.” (Ottawa Citizen)
AP
TRIPOLI - The uprising in Syria fueled intense clashes in neighbouring Lebanon for a third day Monday, with gunmen firing assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades as sectarian tensions spilled across the border. At least 4 people have been killed in Lebanon’s second-largest city, Tripoli, since the gunbattles erupted late Saturday. Lebanon and Syria share a complex web of political and sectarian ties and rivalries, which are easily enflamed. (AP)
PREVIOUS: Sectarian clashes Shia-Sunni relations Lebanon - Syria relations
AP
JOMSOM AIRPORT - A plane crashed into a mountain in the Himalayas while trying to land at an airport in northern Nepal on Monday, killing 15 people and critically injuring 6. It was carrying two pilots and a flight attendant - all Nepalese - along with 16 Indians and 2 Danish citizens. The plane was turning around to land at Jomsom Airport when it crashed. (AP)
MORE: Agni air crash
OTTAWA - Stephen Harper's Conservatives have been accused of using their majority to hide too much House of Commons committee business behind closed doors. But an analysis of Library of Parliament data for the last decade shows the championship title for secretive committee work actually belongs to former prime minister Paul Martin's Liberals. Harper's Tories aren't even the runners up; that honour goes to another Liberal regime, under Jean Chretien. (CP)
TORONTO - Police have put a full stop on john sweeps - operations designed to nab men who troll the streets to buy sex. The Toronto Police Service confirmed Sunday the force has put "on hold" the sweeps in which female officers pose as street prostitutes to arrest men willing to pay for sex. The stop to the long-standing stings comes in the wake of court rulings which have declared some of Canada's prostitution laws unconstitutional. (QMI)
PREVIOUS: On hold
MONTERREY - At least 37 mutilated bodies were found dumped in black plastic bags near the northern Mexico city of Monterrey. "We are still in the process of counting the bodies, but there are at least 37 that we have tallied so far," a spokesperson for the state of Nuevo Leon said. The bodies were found on an isolated stretch of Highway 40. (AFP)
MORE: Bodies in bags 49 mutilated bodies found
PREVIOUS: Bodies found Executed Cartels
KABUL - An assassin armed with a silenced pistol shot dead a top member of the Afghan peace council Sunday at a traffic intersection in the nation's capital. Arsala Rahmani was a former Taliban official who reconciled with the government and was active in trying to set up formal talks with the insurgents. His assassination follows that of the council's head last year. (AP)
Stephanie Lazarus
LOS ANGELES - A former Los Angeles police detective was sentenced Friday to 27 years to life in prison for murdering the wife of her former lover 26 years ago. Stephanie Lazarus, 52, was found guilty in March of killing Sherri Rasmussen, a nurse who was bludgeoned and shot to death in the condo she shared with her husband of three months, John Ruetten. (AP)
MORE: Sentenced
Christopher Doyon, aka Commander X, sits atop a hillside in an undisclosed location in Canada, watching a reporter and photographer make their way along a narrow path to join him, away from the prying eyes of law enforcement. It’s been a few weeks of encrypted emails back and forth, working out the security protocol to follow for interviewing Doyon, one of the brains behind Anonymous, now a fugitive from the FBI. (PostMedia)
OTTAWA - The Lost Canadians who have been denied citizenship because of a wrinkle in 1940s citizenship rules are celebrating the discovery of a long-overlooked document spied recently on a reel of microfilm at Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa. The 1948 memo, plucked from the archived files of a Mackenzie King-era immigration officer, shows how the government of the day ignored potential concerns about the status of a Canadian man's child - also born out of wedlock and out of the country - and ruled that "it would be right and proper to recognize the child as a Canadian citizen." (PostMedia)
MORE: Lost Canadians website
China denies preparing for war
SCARBOROUGH SHOAL - China has denied reports its military forces are preparing for war amid tensions over a disputed territory in the South China Sea. The defence ministry statement comes despite warnings to the Philippines that military conflict is possible over a reef known as the Scarborough Shoal. Ships from China and the Philippines have been confronting each other for more than a month over the shoal. (BBC)
MORE: Chinese send warships
PREVIOUS: Dispute continues China bangs the war drum Crisis in South China Sea
LONDON - One month before the 30th anniversary of one of London's most enduring murder mysteries, the mafia godfather at the heart of the case has spoken for the first time about why he believes the real killers of Italian financier Roberto Calvi will never be brought to justice. Calvi, dubbed "God's banker" because of his work with the Vatican, was found hanging from scaffolding beneath Blackfriars bridge in London on 18 June 1982. In July 1991, Francesco Di Carlo, a mafia godfather who had lived in England since the late 1970s, was named as Calvi's killer by a supergrass. Di Carlo has since become a supergrass himself. (Guardian UK)
LONDON - Scientists who scanned the brains of men convicted of murder, rape and violent assaults have found the strongest evidence yet that psychopaths have structural abnormalities in their brains. The researchers, based at King's College London's Institute of Psychiatry, said the differences in psychopaths' brains mark them out even from other violent criminals with anti-social personality disorders (ASPD), and from healthy non-offenders. (Reuters)
DUNCAN - Leaders of a Vancouver Island First Nation have declared a state of emergency over a recent spate of suicides and attempted suicides. The Cowichan Tribes' spokeswoman Jenn George said the state of emergency was signed Tuesday during a band council meeting. From Feb 26 to April 26, 4 First Nations males committed suicide. (CP)
Jeff & Felicia Boots
LONDON - Autopsies are scheduled Friday for two children found dead in a London, England home Wednesday night. Their Canadian mother, Felicia Boots, has been arrested on suspicion of murder. (CTV)
MORE: Post-natal depression claims Mother arrested Mother charged
OTTAWA - A comparison of Rogers billing records shows that "Pierre Poutine" did not use a computer in the headquarters of a Conservative candidate in Guelph, ON, to launch the election day robocalls, casting doubt on the theory that any of the campaign workers could be the culprit. (PostMedia)
MORE: Robocall scandal
PREVIOUS: Robocalls traced Guelph Tory campaign staffers You are the target
BEIJING - The blind Chinese dissident who escaped from house arrest and hid in the US embassy has said there is no progress on his passport application. When the dissident, Chen Guangcheng, left the embassy China promised him he could apply to study abroad. He said no Chinese officials had visited him in recent days, there had been no forms to fill in and no photograph had been taken. (BBC)
MORE: Nephew charged with manslaughter Relatives suffer revenge The emperor does know
VANCOUVER - The high-profile Mountie who first spoke out against sexual harassment in the national police force is suing her employer, alleging years of "persistent and ongoing" sexual harassment and bullying. In a notice of claim obtained by CBC News Wednesday, Cpl. Catherine Galliford alleges she was sexually assaulted, harassed and bullied during her 16 years on the force. The notice names Canada's attorney general, BC's justice minister, four Mounties, an RCMP doctor and a Vancouver police officer. (CBC)
PREVIOUS: RCMP Harassment
OTTAWA - The public safety minister has called on provincial chief firearms officers (CFOs) to put their back-door long-gun registries through the shredder. Bill C-19, which abolished the federal long-gun registry, included the requirement that all registry data be deleted. (QMI)
MORE: Gun ledgers 'unauthorized ON vows to keep collecting data on gun buyers
COMMENT: Registry a sham
Winnipeg Free Press
WINNIPEG - A man has become the city's 15th homicide victim of the year after he was attacked in the area of 600 Sargent Ave just after midnight today, police said. The man was conveyed to hospital in critical condition where he later died. (Winnipeg Free Press)
MORE: Man dies after assault Homicide unit investigating
MILTON - Police are investigating what they are calling a “suspicious death” after a man’s body was discovered in a dormitory room at Mohawk Slots and Racetrack in Milton. Police say they were notified of the discovery of the victim’s body at 1:40pm on Wednesday. The victim is a 41-year-old man. (CityNews)
MORE: Body found
Amber Kirwan
NEW GLASGOW - Convicted killer Christopher Alexander Falconer, who was on parole when Amber Kirwan disappeared seven months ago, has been charged with kidnapping and first-degree murder of the 19-year-old. Kirwan vanished last October after a night out with friends. Falconer, 29, was granted parole a year ago after serving time in prison for the second-degree murder of the cab driver in 1998. (CBC)
MORE: Man charged
PREVIOUS: Chronicle Herald: Amber Kirwan
Darnell Grant
TORONTO - A member of Toronto gang Doomstown Crips, who sprayed bullets into a crowd of strangers killing a father of six, got an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for 18 years. Corey Smelie, 23, was sentenced for the 2008 driveby shooting that killed Darnell Grant, 31. The shooting happened on Driftwood Court, near Jane and Finch, on Sept. 22, 2008. Smelie was found guilty of second-degree murder in March. His co-accused, Jermaine Gager, 21, was convicted of first-degree murder and received a life sentence with no parole for 25 years. (CityNews)
PREVIOUS: Police ID'd victim Victim, suspects identified
Laura Robertson & Jaime Leopold
BRIDGEWATER - A NS man charged with murdering his fiancée has been found guilty of manslaughter. James Leopold, 33, was accused of killing Laura Lee Robertson, 47, in April 2011. He pleaded not guilty to a charge of second-degree murder, but the jury found him guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter. (CBC)
MORE: Guilty of manslaughter Guilty Manslaughter
PREVIOUS: Killing was an accident Body is missing woman
Shakeil Boothe
BRAMPTON - First-degree murder charges have been laid against the father and step-mother of 10-year-old Shakeil Boothe, nearly one year after the child was found without vital signs inside the family’s Brampton home. Garfield Boothe, the boy’s father was originally charged with failing to provide the necessities of life. That charge was upgraded to second-degree murder days after the boy’s death. Shakeil’s step-mom, Nichelle Boothe-Rowe was originally charged with manslaughter in the case. (CityNews)
PREVIOUS: Stepmother also charged Boy killed, father held Child found dead
Wife couldn't have shot herself
Marie-Nicole Rainville Jacques Delisle
MONTREAL - The trial of a Quebec judge accused of killing his wife continued on Wednesday as the prosecution's star witness picked apart the judge's defence: that his wife has committed suicide. A ballistic expert who was examined over 7,000 firearms in his career, Gilbert Gravel was adamant that Nicole Rainville could not have killed herself with a tiny 22-calibre pistol. The 71-year-old wife of magistrate Jacques Delisle was found dead in her apartment on November 12, 2009 with a gun next to her body. (CTV)
PREVIOUS: Judge weeps Judge protested house search Don't revive Prosecution outlines its case
Frank Zampino Paolo Catania
MONTREAL – Frank Zampino, former chairman of the city of Montreal's executive committee and one-time right-hand man to Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay, was arrested Thursday morning. Construction magnate Paolo Catania was arrested Wednesday night. A source told The Gazette that Bernard Trépanier, former top fundraiser for Tremblay's Union Montreal municipal party, was also arrested Thursday morning. (Montreal Gazette)
MORE: Anti-corruption squad arrests Anti-corruption raid Politician arrested
PREVIOUS: Montreal's AG report Stimulus money implicated Office search Accurso arrested in raids Greed & Corruption Quebec
Quebec to suspend school semester
MONTREAL - The Quebec government will introduce emergency legislation that would suspend the school semester for striking students in an effort to end months of violent protests over tuition increases across the province. (CTV)
MORE: Emergency law to restore order 122 arrested Student violence erupts 2012 Quebec student protests
COMMENT: Violence pays off
PREVIOUS: Terrorism related prank Metro shutdown US consulate warns Americans
VANCOUVER - All BC agricultural workers and their employers should undergo mandatory two-day training sessions on occupational health and safety, a coroner’s jury has recommended at the inquest into the accidental deaths of 3 men at a Langley, BC mushroom farm. The jury produced 15 recommendations after all-day deliberations late Wednesday, including urging WorkSafe BC to hire more agricultural inspectors and to educate workers on the risks of operating in confined spaces. (Vancouver Province)
MORE: Jury makes recommendations
PREVIOUS: Audit 'mistake' Deaths preventable Vancouver general crimes
Tim McLean Vince Li
OTTAWA - Federal justice minister Rob Nicholson is reviewing the Criminal Code with an eye to putting public safety ahead of individual rights in cases involving people found not criminally responsible for their actions. Although Nicholson did not specifically mention Vince Li, the review comes just two days after Li's psychiatrist asked a review board to let the man - who made international headlines for beheading another man on a Greyhound bus - out of Manitoba's Selkirk Mental Health centre for 30-minute supervised visits. Li, 44, was found not criminally responsible for the killing of 22-year-old Tim McLean in July 2008. McLean was asleep on a Greyhound bus when he was attacked and beheaded by Li. (Winnipeg Free Press)
PREVIOUS: More freedom for NCR Murder of Tim McLean
VAL-DES-MONTS - A homicide investigation is underway in western Quebec after a man's body was found inside his Val-des-Monts home on Saturday. Provincial police said 57-year-old Richard Blanchet's body was found by family in the Highway 307 home just after 1pm Saturday. It's located in the Saint-Pierre-de-Wakefield sector of Val-des-Monts. (CTV)
MORE: Truck missing Arrest made
WILLIAMS LAKE - Mounties have arrested a 14-year-old boy accused of sexually assaulting several women in Williams Lake last month. The victims all reported being confronted and attacked between April 9th and 11th in public areas of the small community. (CTV)
MORE: Youth arrested
RELATED: Museum raises age limit for sex-education exhibit
Cassie Campbell Suspects
VANCOUVER - Police have arrested one of two men accused of attacking a disabled woman and stealing her tablet computer in Burnaby, BC. The attack happened aboard a SkyTrain car stopped at a transit station last week when the men grabbed an iPad belonging to Cassie Campbell, who is deaf, has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair. The arrest came after police released pictures of the men captured by video surveillance cameras. (CP)
MORE: Suspect arrested
PREVIOUS: Disabled woman robbed
David Caza
David Caza’s wanderings from eastern Ontario to the BC Interior over the past decade made plain the challenges that society faces in dealing with recidivist pedophiles. Mr. Caza has a lengthy record for sex offences involving children, has refused treatment and was drummed out of one town by locals. He thought he had found refuge in the online world, taking precautions so no one would discover his large, well-ordered collection of child pornography. He was wrong. (Globe & Mail)
School ordered off public property
TORONTO - The Toronto District School Board has forbidden a controversial Islamic school from operating out of one of its properties. The board revoked the permit for the East End Madrassah, a Sunday school for Muslim children, citing an ongoing police investigation into alleged anti-Semitic course material. (Globe & Mail)
MORE: School loses permit
WINDSOR - A Canadian man accused of stealing and swallowing a $20,000 diamond is being held in custody until he has a bowel movement and produces the evidence, police said Thursday. (AFP)
MORE: Swallower yet to pass Waiting for nature to take its course
Ralph Bissonnette
TORONTO - A cab driver has been charged with second-degree murder after a skateboarder was run down Monday night. Ralph Bissonnette, 28, of Toronto, was riding a skateboard downtown, when he was hit by a grey taxi around 6pm. He was taken to hospital with "very serious" injuries and later died. Tuesday morning police announced a second-degree murder charge had been laid against the driver, Adib Ibrahim, 43, of Toronto. (QMI)
MORE: Cabbie road rage Skateboarder dies Murder charge
Windsor Star
WINDSOR - The slaying of a 50-year-old Windsor man Tuesday morning has left residents of a South Windsor trailer park “shocked and heartbroken.” Richard Lemmon - known to his friends as Richie - was stabbed shortly after 4am in the Countryside Village trailer park off Division Road in Windsor. Police said Lemmon was found with his vital signs absent. He was rushed to hospital where he was pronounced dead. (Windsor Star)
Ronaldo Lising
VANCOUVER - Full-patch Hells Angel Ronaldo Lising has been granted day parole, despite concerns from parole board members about his ongoing membership in the notorious biker gang. Lising, 49, had been serving an 11-year, nine-month sentence for a series of convictions including conspiracy to traffic, gun possession and assault. He had been denied earlier bids for both full parole and day parole because of negative associations and bad behaviour in jail. (Vancouver Sun)
PREVIOUS: Bikers
TORONTO - One of the gangsters responsible for spraying a crowded Toronto restaurant with bullets in a bungled mob hit - paralyzing an innocent mother of three - has been re-arrested, just a month after leaving prison for his role in one of the city’s most notorious bystander shootings. The arrest on Friday of Mark Peretz adds to the alarm that he was already free so soon after his 2006 conviction for nine counts of attempted murder. (National Post)
PREVIOUS: Mafia
EDMONTON - An Edmonton man has been sentenced to 9 1/2 years in prison for luring underage girls over the Internet for sex. Brian Allan Cockell, 28, was sentenced earlier this week in a case that Crown prosecutor Craig Krieger told court breaks almost all the online child exploitation laws. Cockell was found guilty earlier this year of charges including Internet luring, sexual interference, abduction, making child pornography and possession of child pornography. (PostMedia)
CBC
MONTREAL - A man was seriously injured late Tuesday and remains in hospital after bricks from a three-storey building collapsed on him while he was walking on the sidewalk. A few hundred bricks came loose from the top of the downtown building, on the west side of De Bleury St, and tumbled to the sidewalk striking the man at around 11:30pm. (CBC)
MORE: Pedestrian injured by falling bricks
CTV
LETHBRIDGE - Police say they've identified two men found murdered in a Lethbridge, Alta., park early Sunday morning. Marty Leon Steele, 35 and Aaron Louis Thacker, 30, were found in Adams Ice Centre Park at about 1:50am after a passersby called police. Both men had been stabbed. (QMI)
PREVIOUS: Bodies found Police probe for clues
Dianne McClements
CAMROSE - The province is drawing criticism in the case of 61-year-old support worker Dianne McClements, who was found dead Saturday in the Camrose group home where she worked alone as the evening supervisor. A 17-year-old male resident of the home who police believe was well known to McClements is charged with second-degree murder in her death. (Edmonton Sun)
MORE: Teen charged Caregiver murdered in assisted living facility
PREVIOUS: Care worker found dead
Selvin Krishna
VANCOUVER - A man who made the province's most wanted car thief list for the first time in 2006 has been identified as the person who was murdered on Mother's Day in Maple Ridge. Selvin Krishna, 36, died from stab wounds Sunday around 2:30am after a fight on 223rd St & McIntosh Ave. (Maple Ridge News)
PREVIOUS: Stabbing Man stabbed to death Man dies from stab wounds
Montana Netmaker
PRINCE ALBERT - A former Prince Albert corrections guard at the center of a fatal hit and run case and standoff has been sentenced to 4 years in jail. 45-year old Leslie Samoleski was charged in April 2011 after hitting 14-year-old Montana Netmaker with a truck. He left the scene and barricaded himself in a house for 15 hours. In December, Samoleski pleaded guilty to two weapons offences and failing to remain at the scene of an accident. (CTV)
MORE: Prison for hit-and-run
PREVIOUS: Former guard pleads guilty Standoff linked to hit-and-run Community mourns loss
VANCOUVER - The aviation community is mourning the loss of well-known pilot Colin Moyes, who died along with two passengers when his float plane crashed in the Okanagan. Transportation Safety Board investigator Bill Yearwood said the single-engine de Havilland Beaver took off from Kelowna, BC, about 15 minutes prior to crashing at 6:45pm Sunday into a forested, higher-terrain area. (QMI)
PREVIOUS: Float plane crashes
RELATED: Airplanes collide Midair collision Planes collide Victim identified Flight details released
CALGARY - An Abbotsford truck driver and father of two is being praised as a hero after pushing a colleague out of the path of a swerving SUV - sacrificing his own life in the process. Baldev Grewal was standing with Balwinder Sidhu on a median in Calgary Friday afternoon, their semi trucks parked nose-to-nose, when he saw a vehicle veering off the road towards them. With his final moments, he shoved Sidhu from harm's way. (CTV)
TORONTO - A former Toronto drug squad officer is rejecting allegations he applied for a search warrant to conceal a warrantless search and that he lied in court about it afterward. Prosecutor Susan Reid suggested that in February 1998 the drug squad “jumped the warrant” in the search of a Scarborough apartment where heroin dealer Ho Bing Pang lived. She accused former Det.-Const. Joseph Miched, 53, of applying for the warrant “to cover their tracks.” “I didn't need to cover anyone’s tracks,” Miched said. (Toronto Star)
PREVIOUS: Toronto Star: Police corruption trial Judge orders partial acquittal Toronto Police
Victim calls 911, ends up in jail
Marian Andrzejewski
OTTAWA - Police are investigating how an elderly victim of a vicious attack in his home ended up spending 75 days in jail after calling 911 for help. Marian Andrzejewski, 74, called 911 after two men broke into his Ottawa apartment in October 2010, robbed him and punched him repeatedly. But instead of getting help, Andrzejewski was scolded by the dispatcher when he struggled to communicate in broken English and ended up in handcuffs himself when police finally arrived. (CTV)
Another BC Human Rights Tribunal ruling
VANCOUVER - A couple who say they became sick and anxious because neighbours were smoking on their balconies have been awarded more than $8,000, despite presenting only "marginal" medical evidence to the BC Human Rights Tribunal. Melanie and Matthew McDaniel filed the human rights complaint because they were unhappy with their strata's response to numerous complaints about the cigarette smoke wafting up from the suites below. (CTV)
RULING: 2012 BCHRT 167 .pdf
PREVIOUS: Big Brother
RELATED: BC advises citizens on surviving zombie attack
Toronto Star
TORONTO - East-end residents were awakened Tuesday morning by two loud explosions at the Vagabonds motorcycle club headquarters near the corner of Woodbine Ave. and Gerrard St. E. The two blasts were apparently detonated by a police in order to get inside the steel-reinforced front door. Police and bikers have no immediate comment on the early-morning raid. There were bikers inside the clubhouse at the time police burst in, apparently watching the operation on security cameras. (Toronto Star)
MORE: Drug raids target biker gang
TORONTO - City council's executive committee voted Monday to cancel Toronto's required five-cent plastic bag fee as of July 1. The bag fee was introduced in 2009 as a way to cut down on single-use plastic bags, while promoting the use of reusable bags. The $5.4M generated by the five-cent fee remains in the hands of retailers, not the city. The motion must now be put to a full council vote on June 6. (CTV)
FLIN FLON - RCMP have laid charges in the murder of John Kellighan Eyres, 31, who was stabbed to death in a home in Flin Flon Saturday. Just before 3am Saturday officers were called to a home in Flin Flon. Eyres was rushed to hospital but later died of his injuries. Mitchell Whitbread, 25, has been charged with second-degree murder. (CTV)
MORE: Stabbing
CityNews
MARKHAM - An autopsy is scheduled to be held Monday on a 28-year-old Markham man who was fatally stabbed behind a library early Sunday morning. Police say Allen Constance was found near the Markham Village library early Sunday. He was rushed to hospital, but succumbed to his injuries. A 17-year-old suspect was arrested on Sunday and charged with first-degree murder. (CTV)
PREVIOUS: Stabbing
Edmonton Journal
SPRUCE GROVE - The bodies of Walter Dahmer, 58, and Darla Hayes Dahmer, 57, were found on the afternoon of May 4 by a family friend who stopped by the rural property. The Dahmers, who once operated one of the largest honeybee operations in Alberta, died after what friends believe to have been a murder-suicide. A week after the deaths, RCMP still have not released the names of the deceased, but obituaries and those who knew the couple confirmed their identities. (Edmonton Journal)
PREVIOUS: Suspicious deaths Suspicious deaths near Spruce Grove 2 bodies found Possible murder-suicide
VICTORIA - BC’s privacy watchdog is demanding the province change four pieces of legislation - and in one case scrap a bill altogether - because of concerns over personal privacy and government transparency. Information and Privacy Commissioner Elizabeth Denham has sent four critical letters to provincial ministers this month chastising them for a host of problems in their bills. (PostMedia)
Rate increase because of less demand
HALIFAX - Nova Scotia’s power company blames two troubled paper mills for forcing it to raise electricity rates for the second time in less than a year. The province’s power rates are already among the highest in the country - and now, Nova Scotia Power is asking ratepayers for even more, citing the shutdown of one mill and reduced operations at the other. The privately owned power company wants a 3% increase next year and the year after. Rates went up an average of 10% in January. (Globe & Mail)
Police orthodoxy changes gears
Vancouver Sun
VANCOUVER - Shortly after the bomb ripped through the prominent gangster’s motor home – a dramatic escalation from the hail of bullets British Columbians have come to expect from organized crime – police arranged sit-downs with street-level gangsters and their bosses. Gunfire is one thing, but bombings, authorities made clear at the meetings, would not be tolerated. (Globe & Mail)
PREVIOUS: Police presence
Tori Stafford Michael Rafferty
LONDON, ON - Justice finally came for Victoria Stafford late Friday when a jury convicted Michael Rafferty of taking, raping and killing the eight-year-old girl in a secluded Ontario field more than three years ago. It took the nine women and three men roughly 10 hours to decide Rafferty was guilty of first-degree murder, sexual assault causing bodily harm and kidnapping. (PostMedia)
MORE: Mixed emotions Journey through darkness ends Jury got it right Words of aching humanity Rafferty's statement
PREVIOUS: What jurors did not hear Murder of Victoria Stafford Star: Tori Stafford trial PostMedia: Stafford trial
Ronak “Ronny” Wagad
VANCOUVER - 2 men charged in the hatchet slaying of Vancouver drug dealer Ronak “Ronny” Wagad were found guilty of murder on Friday. BC Supreme Court Justice Barry Davies found Charles Anthony Leslie, 34, of Surrey guilty of second-degree murder and Babak Najafi-Chaghabouri, 30, of North Vancouver guilty of first-degree murder. (Vancouver Province)
PREVIOUS: 2009 Wagad
CTV
TORONTO - A man targeted and shot dead at a west-end apartment complex on Thursday has been identified as 27-year-old Delano Coombs. The man was killed near Dundas St W around 3pm Thursday. (CityNews)
MORE: Victim ID'd Police identify victim
PREVIOUS: Police probe shooting
EDMONTON - The man found dead in a house fire earlier this week has been identified as 28-year-old Philipp Jochen Woehrle. Police were called to the scene of a house fire in the area of 117 Ave NW & 129 St NW just after 7:30am on Tuesday where firefighters found the body of a deceased man. The cause of death has not been released but police say the man was murdered. (CTV)
MORE: House fire victim identified House fire death
EDMONTON - RCMP reinstated second-degree murder charges against one of two teenagers involved in a high-profile double homicide case Friday. In July 2011, the Crown stayed the charges because an interview with one of the accused was deemed inadmissible. New evidence uncovered during the ongoing murder investigation has allowed prosecutors to move the case back before the courts. (CTV)
MORE: Teen re-charged
PREVIOUS: Charges dropped Shocking development 'They look like little kids' Strathcona County double homicide
TORONTO - Police have charged a Toronto man with murder after a 52-year-old woman was found dead on Monday. It happened in a Toronto Community Housing building on Firvalley Court in Scarborough. Kevin Noble, 52, was charged with second-degree murder. (CityNews)
MORE: Man charged Woman killed
Rajpinder Sehmbi Tirth Sehmbi
EDMONTON - A former RCMP officer accused of shooting his wife to death at their Edmonton home is seeking to be found not guilty as a result of being mentally ill at the time. Tirth Sehmbi, 39, is charged with second-degree murder in the July 10, 2010, slaying of Rajpinder Kaur Sehmbi. (QMI)
Harry Bakema
WINNIPEG - He was the police officer left holding the proverbial bag when a high-profile prosecution fell apart. Yet the most senior former member of the East St. Paul police pointed the finger of blame at former chief Harry Bakema for the botched investigation of a deadly car crash. Norm Carter testified Friday as the final Crown witness against Bakema. (Winnipeg Free Press)
MORE: Second-in-command testifies
PREVIOUS: Chat takes centre stage Taman Inquiry
POLICE LINE DO NOT CROSS
Thursday, May 17, 2012 12:24:16
© 2012 Prime Time Crime