There are 145,000 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 going 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 Report a Quiet St. Patrick’s Day
Both Guelph Police and City of Guelph Bylaw Enforcement officials enjoyed a relatively quiet St. Patrick’s Day last Friday, and through the weekend. Officials responded to 13 noise complaints on Friday and 10 on Saturday, but only gave out one Provincial Offence notice for loud music while police issued six Provincial Offence notices under the Liquor License Act for having open alcohol in public.
Meanwhile, RIDE spot checks at several locations around town Friday and Saturday saw about 950 vehicles checked, resulting in 25 requests for breath samples, but just one motorist was arrested for impaired driving. Three others had their licences suspended for three days due to the level of alcohol in their system or evidence of drug use, and eight other charges were laid for various offences including driving while suspended and driving without insurance.
Assault
A 37-year-old Guelph man was charged with possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose and assault with a weapon after brandishing a hunting-style knife at a Guelph Transit driver after trying to get on the bus with a fake bus pass in the area of Elmira and Massey.
A 39-year-old Guelph man was charged with assault with a weapon, possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose, mischief under $5,000 and three counts of uttering death threats early on Monday. An argument where one man took exception to his acquaintance talking with his wife led to the aggrieved man using a hatchet to smash the driver’s side window of the victim’s car while he was sitting inside it.
Break-Ins
A delivery driver arriving at a business near Silvercreek and Campbell interrupted a robbery in progress early Friday morning after seeing two men inside. Police responded to the scene around 2:45 am, and found that one of the entrances had been forced open. A search of the area with police dogs came up empty and there’s no word if anything was taken. If you have any information, call Constable Abdullah Eidokheil at 519-824-1212, ext. 7415, or email him at aeidokheil [at] guelphpolice.ca.
Break-ins at two different churches last weekend are believed to be related. The first break-in was discovered at Harcourt Memorial United Church at 9 am Sunday; several interior doors were forced open causing extensive damage, and approximately $9,000 worth of audio equipment and laptop computers were stolen. If you have any information about this incident, call Constable Keith Kolodziejczak at 519-824-1212, ext. 7452, or email him at kkolodziejczak [at] guelphpolice.ca.
The other church was Three Willows United Church near Willow and Imperial where the break-in was discovered 11:30 am on Sunday. An exterior door and several interior doors had been pried open and approximately $2,600 worth of equipment and cash was stolen. Any information about this specific break-in is being directed to Constable Mallory Woeller at 519-824-1212, ext. 7462, or you can email her at mwoeller [at] guelphpolice.ca.
A 27-year-old Guelph man was charged with break and enter, trespassing near a dwelling and breaching probation after a resident at a home near York and Brockville heard a noise on their front porch and found a man standing there. The resident immediately closed the door and the man on the porch began kicking it. He fled when the resident said he was calling police.
Drugs
A 45-year-old Guelph man was charged with carrying a concealed weapon, possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose, assault with a weapon, uttering death threats, possessing a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking and possessing cannabis for the purpose of selling. Police were called after a man reported that a former acquaintance brandished a knife while uttering death threats Monday morning. Police located the other man and a knife and quantities of psilocybin and cannabis, as well as cash and evidence consistent with drug trafficking during a search.
Fraud
A Guelph woman got in touch with police on Thursday after she received a text supposedly to reschedule a delivery. She believed that this was a legitimate text, and clicked in the message where it asked her to provide her banking information. A short time later, the victim received a notification $2,999 had been transferred out of her account. Police are reminding residents to be wary of any telephone call, email or text which requires you to take immediate action, and to confirm the legitimacy of the correspondence before taking action.
A 25-year-old Brampton woman was charged with fraud under $5,000 and identity theft for a couple of incidents last year. On November 26, she allegedly entered a store near Elmira and Paisley and opened two new phone accounts to collect two free iPhone 14s worth more than $2,500, and she allegedly attempted to do the same thing at the same business almost two weeks later.
If you think you might be a victim of any fraud, call the Guelph Police Non-Emergency line is 519-824-5154, or contact the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501 or online at their website.
Theft
Police are looking for a gas thief who filled their stolen car with $70 in gas at a station on Clair Road East Tuesday night. The driver is described as a white female, 25-35 years and wearing a black winter coat with fur, red shirt, black pants and black shoes and she was driving a white 2018 Mazda CX5 that was stolen from somewhere in York Region. If you have any information, call Constable Jash Manani at 519-824-1212, ext. 7273, or email him at jmanani [at] guelphpolice.ca.
A 45-year-old Guelph woman was charged with possessing stolen property over $5,000, possessing stolen property under $5,000, possessing identity documents and breaching a conditional sentence order. This arrest was connected to a series of break and enters between last November and March for which the Break Enter Auto Theft (BEAT) Unit arrested a 25-year-old Guelph man while conducting a search warrant in the west end earlier this month.
Traffic
A 61-year-old Guelph man was charged with impaired operation, and his driver’s licence was suspended for 90 days after police were waiting for him at his home near London and Edinburgh Tuesday afternoon. Police were given information about a possible impaired driver in the area of Guelph General Hospital beforehand.
A 20-year-old Stouffville man was charged with speeding and stunt driving for the third time since 2020, this time for doing 115 kilometres per hour in a 70 zone on Victoria South near Bard last Wednesday evening. He was driving his father’s Audi, which was impounded for 14 days.
A 16-year-old Guelph man with a G2 licence was clocked doing 92 kilometres per hour in a 50 zone near York and Victoria. He lost his licence for 30 days and his vehicle was impounded for 15 days.
A 23-year-old Oshawa man was charged with speeding, stunt driving and operating an unsafe vehicle after being clocked doing 124 kilometres per hour in a 70 zone just after 1 am Friday on Victoria at Decorso Drive.
A 36-year-old Brampton man was charged with dangerous driving and stunt driving. On Monday afternoon, police were called to a plaza on Woodlawn Road where a man failed a driver’s test and then got into his car and sped through the parking lot nearly hitting four people in the process before doing a number of “burnouts” in the parking lot.
A 48-year-old Guelph man was charged with impaired driving after police found a vehicle with heavy front-end damage after it struck a light post in the area of London and Exhibition.
A 27-year-old Kitchener man was charged with impaired driving last Sunday evening after police were called to Edinburgh and Paisley to respond to a car that had driven onto the railway tracks and become stuck, causing damage to the undercarriage.
A 19-year-old Brampton man was charged with impaired driving early Sunday morning at a RIDE spot check on Wyndham Street South. An SUV entered the spot check at a high rate of speed before stopping abruptly.
Other Notes
The General Investigations Unit is seeking dashcam video of two overnight fires early on Wednesday The first fire was in the area of Ontario and Wood around 4 am, and it was quickly extinguished by emergency crews, and the second was at a business near York and Victoria where some shrubs were set on fire, which was mostly extinguished by a resident. It’s not known if the incidents are related. Anyone with information is being asked to call Detective Constable Jagdeep Atwal at 519-824-1212, ext. 7436, or email him at jatwal [at] guelphpolice.ca.
A 48-year-old Guelph woman was arrested after a traffic stop Tuesday morning when police discover that he was wanted on two counts of failing to appear for fingerprinting.
A 16-year-old man was arrested last Saturday for missing a court date in February on charges including assault causing bodily harm and carrying a concealed weapon.
Total calls for service last week: 1,679
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.
Guelph Politico 