There are 137,000 stories in the Royal City, and this is some of them. Looking at a week’s worth of media releases from the Guelph Police Service, there’s a lot gong on in our little city crime-wise speaking, so let’s run down some of the charges, issues, and requests for information from the Guelph Police Service over the last seven days.

***Please note that not all offenses and police calls are reported in the daily Guelph Police media release.

Police Looking for Candy Man

At around 3:30 pm on Tuesday, an unknown man approached a nine-year-old girl who was playing in her driveway in the area of Victoria and Speedvale. He asked the girl if she wanted some candy, but the girl ran into her house. The man is described as white, 65 years, 5’10-6’ with an average build, and he was wearing dirty jeans and a newer orange and fluorescent green safety vest. If you have any information, call Constable Stephen Gawlik at 519-824-1212, ext. 7509, or email him at sgawlik [at] guelphpolice.ca.

Repeated Calls About Driving Leads to Arrest

A 19-year-old Puslinch man was charged with three counts of dangerous driving and two counts each of speeding and stunt driving. Police have been investigating reports of the same vehicle driving dangerously since June 2021, including one instance of failing to stop for police. Things have escalated more dangerously in the last month with three different incidents, including driving twice the speed limit, and weaving in and out of traffic. The person was eventually identified and an arrested was made on Thursday.

Police Want to Stop Accidental 9-1-1 Call

Guelph Police say they received 14,000 accidental 9-1-1 calls last year. That’s not a typo. The majority of these calls come from cell phones, so Guelph Police propose a number of directions you can take to prevent an accidental dial of the three-digit emergency number.

First, lock you screen. That doesn’t fully prevent accidental 9-1-1 calls from being made, but it’s a start. Using a phone case is also a good measure of prevention. Kids playing with a smart phone have also accidentally dialed 9-1-1, so parents are reminded to keep their eye on what the kids are doing with the phone (and you can still dial 9-1-1 on a phone with the SIM card removed). Finally, some devices have an emergency SOS feature that can be disabled with the assistance of your phone’s manual.

Remember: If you do end up accidentally call 9-1-1, don’t panic and don’t hang up. Operators are required to call back hang-ups, and they spend 2-10 minutes on average trying to re-establish contact, this can tie up emergency service and can be an impediment in responding to an actual emergency.

Assault

A 54-year-old Guelph man was charged with mischief under $5,000 and assault police after he tried to punch an officer and kicked the passenger door of a police vehicle causing $2,000 in damage. The man was agitated because police had taken his lady friend into custody, member of the police Break Enter Auto Theft (BEAT) unit recognized her in relation to a theft last month. A 34-year-old Guelph woman was also charged with possessing a prohibited weapon, possessing a weapon contrary to an order and breach of probation.

Police are looking for a suspect that assaulted a male last Saturday morning around 1:35 am, breaking one of his orbital bones (the part of the skull around the eye). The suspect was last seen heading westbound on Macdonell Street and is described as a white male in his early 20s with shaggy brown hair and wearing a dark jacket with flannel edging over a dark grey shirt with a red and white emblem on it. If you have any information, call Constable Jeff Reid at 519-824-1212, ext. 7447, email him at jreid [at] guelphpolice.ca.

Break-Ins

There was hundreds of dollars in damage to several laundry machines in an apartment building at Victoria and Brant sometime last week. Someone tried to break into the coin-operated machines to steal money, but failed. If you have any information, call Constable Erik Ugarte-Bravo at 519-824-1212, ext. 7365, email him at eugarte-bravo [at] guelphpolice.ca.

Police were called to an apartment building on Waterloo near Edinburgh last Sunday after it was reported that someone had broken into a storage locker and stole $500 worth of items. This is the same building reporting a storage locker break-in the week before. If you have any information, call Constable Christian Godin at 519-824-1212, ext. 7288, email him at cgodin [at] guelphpolice.ca.

Police are investigating a break-in at a business in the area of Speedvale and Dawson on Friday morning; one man smashed the glass door, and another man went in and stole an unknown quantity of product. Police are looking for one man described as wearing a dark jacket with the hood up, a red shirt, black pants, black shoes with white soles, gloves and a mask, and a second wearing all black clothing and shoes, a light-coloured balaclava, gloves and a mask. They drove a white cargo van, possibly a GMC Savana. If you have any information call Constable Konrad Babol at 519-824-1212, ext. 7189, email him at kbabol [at] guelphpolice.ca.

Theft

Catalytic converters were stolen from five vehicles parked at a business in the area of Michener and Woodlawn. The thefts happened either late on Monday or early on Tuesday, and the stolen converters are worth an estimated $15,000. If you have any information call Constable Ryan Horvat at 519-824-1212, ext. 7485, or email him at rhorvat [at] guelphpolice.ca.

A 1985 Honda Elite scooter  was stolen from outside a business in the area of Paisley and Imperial. If you have any information call Special Constable Thomas Randell at 519-824-1212, ext. 7194, or email him at trandell [at] guelphpolice.ca.

A car stolen from outside of town was found outside an address on Hadati Road and reported to the Guelph Police by the stolen car’s owner who found it off a tip. Police are looking for a white male, six feet tall with a slim build and wearing a black jacket, tan pants and a baseball cap, who the car’s owner reportedly saw getting out of their car. If you have any information, call Constable Brad Townsend at 519-824-1212, ext. 7123, or email him at btownsend [at] guelphpolice.ca.

Police are looking for information about the theft of approximately $20,000 worth of wire and equipment that was taken from a business in the area of Downey and Hanlon Creek Boulevard. It’s unknown how many suspects were involved, but they hit six shipping containers with heavy padlocks. If you have any information, call Constable Denver Staines at 519-824-1212, ext. 7166, or email him at dstaines [at] guelphpolice.ca.

Traffic

A 33-year-old Guelph man was charged with mischief, driving while suspended, defacing a licence plate and driving without insurance after police. The driver, and his car, were found by police stuck in a muddy field on Wednesday afternoon.

Police spotted a vehicle speeding out of a parking lot at Gordon and Clair, and we’re able to catch the driver while fleeing on foot after he abandoned the car on Maltby Road. A 35-year-old Guelph man faces more than a dozen charges including dangerous driving, possessing stolen property over $5,000, resisting arrest, possessing a controlled substance, possessing identity documents and driving while prohibited.

A 39-year-old Guelph man was charged with impaired operation, dangerous operation, failing to stop at a collision and driving a vehicle with open alcohol after a vehicle was rear-ended at Wyndham and Macdonell on Thursday night.

A 27-year-old Niagara Region man was charged with impaired operation and failing to remain at a collision after a minor hit and run downtown last Friday night.

A 24-year-old Guelph man was charged with impaired operation, and his driver’s licence was immediately suspended for 90 days after police responded to a possible impaired driver in the area of Cambridge Street and Glasgow. Police found the man sitting behind the wheel of his car with the key in the ignition, and a roadside test revealed he had more than the legal limit of alcohol in his system.

A 28-year-old Markham man was charged with impaired operation, and his driver’s licence was suspended for 90 days after police were called early Friday about a man brandishing a weapon downtown. No weapon ended up being found.

A 33-year-old Guelph man was charged with possessing stolen property over $5,000 and possessing identity documents after the Break Enter Auto Theft (BEAT) Unit received a tip about stolen property in an apartment at Woolwich and Eramosa. Police recovered a large number of tools, stolen credit cards and documents, plus two stolen e-bikes.

A 31-year-old Guelph man was charged with impaired operation and careless driving causing bodily harm, and his driver’s licence was suspended for 90 days after an accident where a 19-year-old Guelph woman was struck. The driver lost control of the vehicle while rounding the bend at York and Wyndham, jumping the sidewalk and hitting the woman. She went to hospital for treatment, but is believed to have not suffered serious injuries. The driver failed a roadside screening test.

Other Notes

A 29-year-old Guelph woman was charged with failing to appear in court on concealed weapon and resisting arrest charges after police were called about a woman walking on the side of the road and talking to herself in the area of Paisley and Stephanie Drive at around 1:30 am on Tuesday.

Total calls for service last week: 1,522

If you have any information about the crimes or incidents mentioned above, you can also call Guelph Wellington Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS) or post online at csgw.tips.