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.
Assault
Police looking for a witness to an alternation outside a downtown business near Macdonell and Wyndham at 2:40 am on Sunday. The two men sustained non-life threatening injuries and were transported to hospital for medical attention, a knife was involved. If you have any information about this incident, call Detective Constable Scott Carroll at 519-824-1212, ext. 7489, or email him at swcarroll [at] guelphpolice.ca.
A 24-year-old Guelph man is charged with uttering threat Thursday after a man smashed several items within a social services agency downtown and then threatened the employee before leaving on foot.
A 41-year-old Guelph man is charged with carrying a concealed weapon, three counts of breaching probation and two counts of failing to appear for fingerprinting after police spotted him downtown and knew that he was wanted for two different warrants. A wood-handled knife and collapsible baton was found on his person when he was arrested.
A 26-year-old Wellesley man was charged with possessing a prohibited weapon for an incident back in September where paramedics were called to a location near London and North for an injury resulting from a conducted energy weapon, which was found on the scene. The man was arrested by another police service Sunday.
A 30-year-old Cambridge woman was charged with assault after she bit a female staff member on the hand and breaking the skin while being escorted from a Woodlawn West business early last Saturday morning.
Break-Ins
About $15,000 worth of Milwaukee power tools were stolen from a business near Victoria and Maltby on Tuesday morning. Four men arrived in a newer dark-coloured Jeep Grand Cherokee, and after one used bolt cutters to smash a window, they all entered and stole the tools. All four males are believed to be white and wearing face and head coverings. One had dark hair and one had a ponytail. If you have any information, call Constable Scott Bangay at 519-824-1212, ext. 7029, or email him at sbangay [at] guelphpolice.ca.
Drugs
Following an investigation by the Break Enter Auto Theft Unit, a search warrant was executed on a home in the area of Inkerman and Hearn on Tuesday morning and they seized approximately $11,000 worth of fentanyl and MDMA, two replica firearms, a butterfly-style knife, drug paraphernalia and more than $1,400 in cash. (See photo below.) Also recovered were numerous power tools believed to be stolen. Three Guelph men, ranging in age from 28 to 52, and a 41-year-old Guelph woman are jointly charged with two counts of possessing controlled substances for the purposes of trafficking, two counts of possessing controlled substances, possessing a prohibited weapon and possessing stolen property over $5,000. One of the men was also charged with several breaches of court orders.
A 36-year-old Guelph man and 32-year-old woman of no fixed address were each charged with occupying a stolen vehicle, possessing stolen property over $5,000, three counts of possessing controlled substances for the purpose of trafficking and breaching probation Monday. A 2020 Nissan parked near Waterloo and St. Arnaud had been reported stolen from Belleville the day before. When the woman returned to the car, a search found suspected fentanyl, crystal meth, and cocaine.
Fraud
Last Friday, a local man in his 60s contacted police to report that he had lost $185,000 after responding to an online ad for a supposed Bitcoin investment firm. After sending the money through wire and e-transfers, the man became suspicious when the company asked for another $60,000. He told police staff at his bank warned him he was being scammed, but he did not believe them and insisted on completing the transfers.
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.
Impaired Driving
A 42-year-old Breslau man is charged with refusing to provide a breath sample and failing to report a collision, plus his licence was suspended for 90 days, after police were called to a collision in a parking lot on Woodlawn Road West. Officers spoke to one of the drivers who had a strong odour of alcohol on his breath, seemed unsteady on his feet and was unable to answer simple questions. He also repeatedly refused to give a breath sample.
A 24-year-old Guelph man was charged with impaired driving, and his licence was suspended for 90 days after another driver reported that someone was driving erratically early on Sunday morning.
A 49-year-old Guelph man was charged with impaired driving, resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer, and his licence was suspended for 90 days after police received a report about an impaired driver last Saturday night. When police caught up with the driver at an address on Woolwich, he was put under arrest and then resisted by struggling and refusing to put one of his legs inside the car. At police headquarters he kicked an officer before being tested, which revealed that he had twice the legal limit of alcohol in his system.
Theft
Wednesday morning a resident in the area of Kortright and Rickson reported his white 2019 Ram Big Horn pickup was stolen sometime overnight. If you have any information, call Constable Scott Wright at 519-824-1212, ext. 7330, or email him at swright [at] guelphpolice.ca.
A 33-year-old Guelph man was charged with theft of a motor vehicle, dangerous driving, driving while prohibited, breaching an undertaking, four counts of breaching probation and several Highway Traffic Act offences. On October 17, a man went into downtown business and left his car running outside. He then looked out, saw someone get into the car and in the course of trying to stop the suspect from stealing his car, he was almost run over.
A 35-year-old Ajax man turned himself in to police last Friday and was charged with theft under $5,000 for a February 9 theft of Pokemon cards from a Stone Road business.
Traffic
A 37-year-old St. Thomas man turned himself in to police on Wednesday, and was arrested for assault in connection to an incident last month when a Kitchener man was driving on Wellington Street West when another driver cut him off and applied his brakes several times for no reason. While stopped at a light on Edinburgh Road, the two got into a verbal fight and then the suspect exited his vehicle and spit in the face of the victim before driving off.
Other Notes
A 55-year-old Guelph man was charged with possessing child pornography, accessing child pornography and distributing child pornography when officers with the Internet Child Exploitation and Technological Crimes units executed a warrant at a home near Elmira and Fife. A 19-year-old Guelph man was also charged with possessing child pornography, accessing child pornography and distributing child pornography resulting from the same search.
A 43-year-old Guelph man was charged with mischief under $5,000 and four counts of failing to appear in court after staff at a downtown bank called police Monday afternoon about a man outside wearing a ski mask and waving a gun around. Police responded, but it turned out the weapon was an orange water pistol. He was also wanted for three separate warrants.
Police are looking for information about a man in a van that approached two children walking to school on the morning of Wednesday February 21. At around 8:30 am, the children aged 12 and 10 were walking near Fife and Elmira when the driver stopped, made eye contact with the children and gestured with his hand for them to approach. They ran to school instead and told a teacher. The man was described as white and was driving a white panel-style van. If you have any information, call Sergeant Michael Alarie at 519-824-1212, ext. 7360, or email him at malarie [at] guelphpolice.ca.
Total calls for service last week: 1,352
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 