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This Week In Crime: February 24–March 2
Each week, Torontoist chooses the most interesting cases from the Toronto Police Service crime blotter. All charges are alleged until proven under law.
The strangest thing that police have been dealing with this week was ice falling off buildings, notably the CN Tower. In other news, however: don’t check your coat with a gun in the pocket; another day care centre is defrauded; someone sets fire to a Toronto Community Housing facility; Fester meets the arrester; and a retiring Constable is granted a very special request.
• Oops! When a 26-year-old man checked his coat at a Richmond and York Street restaurant, an employee noticed a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun in the pocket. A discreet call to the cops and the man is arrested, when cocaine and marijuana allegedly for the purpose of trafficking were also discovered. The crim faces ten charges.
• Constable Tony Mohr (52 Division) works his last shift on Monday before retiring after more than 33 years with the Toronto Police Service. To mark his final day, Constable Mohr was granted his request against Force protocol to work alongside his two sons, Constable Sean Mohr (left, 53 Division) and Constable Chad Mohr (right, 31 Division). Aww, this just warms our hearts.
• Police announce that they have arrested a 41-year-old taxi driver who operated a vehicle under contract for the TTC Wheel-Trans service. On February 16, the driver fondled a passenger he had collected from a centre for people with learning disabilities and attempted to engage her in sexual activity, which she was able to rebuff. The man was charged with sexual assault and exploitation charges.
• It is announced that the TPS in co-operation with the RCMP, have arrested a high-risk convicted sex offender who goes by the nickname “Fester” for failing to comply with court-ordered conditions. The 43-year-old has lived throughout Canada and the United States, but moved to the Toronto area in January. The man has an extensive criminal record, including child pornography and sexual assault convictions, and police are looking for more information regarding anyone who may have had contact with the man, especially children. Throw away the key on this one.
• Police were called to a fire at an 11-unit city-owned rooming house at 38 Prospect Street near Parliament and Wellesley. Three occupants were evacuated with minor injuries. A 37-year-old resident of the house immediately turned himself in to 51 Division and was arrested and faces arson charges. Ten residents were left homeless following the blaze, which left the facility completely gutted.
• Echoing one of our previous reports of someone defrauding child care centres, a former supervisor at Parkdale Beach Child Care Centre was arrested for allegedly stealing more than $100,000 from the centre and other creditors. The 37-year-old woman cashed cheques not endoresed to her, removed computer records, misrepresented audits, and obtained several mobile phones in the name of the Parkdale Beach Child Care Centre. The scumbag faces eleven charges.
• Fans of Dateline NBC and parents take note! A 33-year-old man was arrested after sending sexually explicit photos to an officer who was posing as a 13-year-old girl as part of an online internet luring investigation. The man used the handle of “lqqk2cute4u,” but most certainly won’t be lqqk2cute4jail. LOL.
Anyone with information on the crimes listed above is asked to contact police at 416−808−2222 (non-emergency), or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416−222−TIPS (8477) or online at www.222tips.com. Photograph of the Mohrs from the National Post; photograph of the rooming house fire from CityNews. Some data are based on preliminary information and may not be verified. Crime classifications may change at a later date.