2025.1.31 Police warn of multiple pickpocket thefts at the Toronto Premium Outlets
Hold on to your cell phone! That’s the advice police are giving to shoppers at the Toronto Premium Outlets in Halton Hills after dozens of pickpocket thefts were reported in the area.
Authorities say they have received more than 100 reports of lost or stolen cell phones from shoppers at the outlets since mid-November.
Investigators have released surveillance footage of one incident to alert shoppers and increase public awareness.
Police say the suspects operate in teams of two or more and target unsuspecting customers who in many cases have their cell phones in an unsecured jacket pocket.
In most cases, police say the suspects “bump or rub against the victim” and take the phone out of their pocket.
“The suspect then quickly hands the stolen cell phone to a second suspect to complete the theft,” police said, adding that it “only takes seconds to complete.”
Police are encouraging shoppers to secure their phones in a fastening pocket inside their jackets or to utilize a pouch.
“Maintain a tight grip or control of your phone when in crowded spaces” and “never leave your phone unattended,” police said.
2025.1.30 Wanted for murder in Missouri and Mexico, police say ‘Pistol Packin’ Mama’ hid in Alberta for decades
U.S. officials confirm fugitive Sharon Kinne was living in Taber as Dee Glabus
Fifty-five years after Missouri murderer Sharon Kinne escaped from a Mexican prison, American authorities confirm the fugitive hid for decades in a small Alberta town.
On Thursday, Jackson County Sheriffs confirmed that Kinne, who was linked to three murders in two countries, had been hiding out three hours south of Calgary, in the town of Taber, for 49 years until her death in 2022 at the age of 81.
Kinne had been living under the name Diedra (Dee) Glabus in the sleepy prairie town of about 9,000 residents, best known for its corn crop.
It’s unclear if anyone in the town knew she was a fugitive, on the run from both Mexican and Missouri police. Or if they just knew Glabus as a bridge-playing local realtor and volunteer.
Tip came from Albertan
Capt. Ronda Montgomery with the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office told reporters at a Kansas City news conference on Thursday that police received an anonymous tip in December 2023 from someone in Alberta.
The “courageous” tipster told police that Kinne had been living in Alberta under the name Diedra Glabus, said Montgomery.
Police then subpoenaed the funeral home in Taber. In Canada, in certain circumstances, people can be fingerprinted after they die.
Investigators finally had the answers that had evaded them for decades.
‘La Pistolera’
The recently deceased 81-year-old was, indeed, the fugitive who had disappeared in 1969 in the middle of serving a sentence for a murder in Mexico and while wanted in the 1960 slaying of her husband, who was fatally shot in his bed.
While Kinne’s final conviction count for murder stands at just one, it is widely believed she killed two others.
The fatal shootings took place between 1960 and 1964 and stretched from Independence, a satellite city of Kansas City, to Mexico City, where the press gave her a nickname — “La Pistolera,” the female gunslinger.
In 1964, Kinne was a month away from a retrial for the 1960 murder of her husband when she skipped town, heading south to Mexico, where, within a matter of days, she killed a man in the course of a robbery.
And although three years earlier she had been acquitted by a Missouri jury in the death of Patricia Jones, the wife of her lover, police discovered the murder weapon used to kill Jones in Kinne’s Mexico City hotel room.
Back in Jackson County, investigators had their own nickname for Kinne.
Col. William Morton called her the Pistol Packin’ Mama.
Morton died in 2011, but in the 1990s he and two other officers who were involved in the Kinne investigation did an interview on a Kansas City talk radio station, KCMO, with host Mike Murphy.
Morton was first on the scene when Kinne called for police after her husband was shot in the head.
“She said she was in the bathroom getting ready for dinner and she heard her daughter say ‘Daddy, how’s this thing work?’ Then she heard a shot and she said she ran in the bedroom and discovered her husband,” Morton told Murphy.
“She said that the little daughter had shot him, two and a half years.… We bought it at that time.”
Taber Motel owner
Col. Morton’s grandson, Ryan St. Louis, said his grandfather “would be flabbergasted” to learn Kinne had managed to evade authorities in a small Canadian town.
“For somebody to be able to escape basically prison here, then escape prison in Mexico and be able to live a full life, I don’t know if that’s ever happened anywhere,” said St. Louis from his Kansas City home.
“To be wanted for murder in two different countries and be able to hide in a third country — crazy.”
For the last half of her life, Kinne lived as Dee Glabus, a realtor and volunteer in town.
According to the obituary for her husband Jim Glabus, the couple moved to town in 1973 and owned the Taber Motel before working together as realtors.
Glabus was quoted in the Lethbridge Herald in her role as the chair of Taber’s daycare centre steering committee.
While living in Alberta, she had two husbands, who both died.
Archival newspaper clippings show that in 1979, husband Jim Glabus died in Taber at the age of 38.
Jim had a history of alcoholism and diabetes, according to the findings of a fatality inquiry, and was drinking the night he died.
Husband dead at 38
According to evidence presented to a judge, Dee tried to get her husband admitted to hospital but was unable due to a shortage of beds.
The judge found Jim died of “asphyxiation from inhalation of gastric juices as a result of being in a diabetic coma.”
In 1982, Glabus married Willie Ell.
Ell died in 2011 at the age of 79.
Kinne had children in at least two of her marriages, although details are sparse.
Much more is known about the first half of Kinne’s life than the latter part as so many of her early activities wound up on the front pages of newspapers, the subject of books and even on an episode of Unsolved Mysteries.
Her early life and crimes are extensively detailed online, in Kansas City Public Library archives, in newspaper clippings, and from the accounts of Morton and two other detectives who were interviewed on KCMO.
Kinne first appeared on the police radar in 1960, at the age of 20, when her husband James Kinne was fatally shot while lying in bed.
When police arrived, Sharon Kinne blamed her two-year-old daughter. Initially, detectives believed her.
Shortly after the death, Kinne used some of her husband’s life insurance money to buy a new Ford Thunderbird convertible, according to the detectives, and then promptly began an affair with the car salesman, Walter Jones.
But Walter refused to leave his wife, Patricia Jones, for Kinne.
Three months after James Kinne’s death, the body of Patricia Jones was discovered — by Sharon Kinne — just outside Independence, Mo.
That’s when police charged Kinne with both murders.
Mexico murder
She went on trial for the Jones murder first and was acquitted by jurors.
Next was her trial in her husband’s death. She was found guilty, but the conviction was overturned because of problems with the jury.
Two more trials took place with both resulting in mistrials.
A fourth was scheduled for October 1964. At the time, Kinne was out on bail.
One month before that trial was set to begin, Kinne and her new beau travelled to Mexico City.
There, she shot Francisco Paredes Ordoñez while attempting to rob him. When a hotel employee came running after the sound of gunshots, Kinne shot him, too. The employee survived.
Double jeopardy
When police searched Kinne’s hotel room, investigators found another gun. Mexican police allowed the Kansas City cops to run ballistics tests on the weapon.
Investigators concluded it was the same gun used to murder Patricia Jones, said Sgt. Dustin Love, with the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, on Thursday.
Double jeopardy laws meant Kinne could not be charged again, despite the new, damning evidence.
Kinne was convicted of Paredes Ordoñez’s murder one month after the shooting.
In 1969, five years into her 13-year sentence, Kinne escaped from prison.
‘Someone had that tip’
Mexican authorities conducted a countrywide manhunt, but Kinne continued to evade police until the anonymous tip led Missouri police to southern Alberta.
Sgt. Love said it’s “unfortunate” the case was solved only after Kinne’s death.
“She was really good at what she did. She hid really well,” said Love.
“Someone had that tip and was not willing to release it until after her death.”
Police say that, while the case is officially closed, they’re still interested in hearing from anyone who can fill in the details of Kinne’s life after 1969.
In a brief statement read aloud at the news conference, the Kinne family referred to their “traumatic legacy” and expressed gratitude that “this chapter in our family history can be closed.”
“Sharon never faced consequences for her actions.”
2025.1.30 VIDEO: 5 suspects caught after Markham jewelry store theft attempt ‘botched’ when thieves show up after business closed for the day, say York police
Two men and three boys have been arrested after a group of armed suspects “botched” a Markham jewelry store robbery when they showed up after the business had closed for the day, say York police.
Two “suspicious” vehicles were observed near a jewelry store in the area of Denison Street and Kennedy Road around 5:30 p.m. on Jan. 25, police say.
Investigators with the York Regional Police Hold-Up Unit have charged five suspects after a failed robbery of a jewelry store in the City of Markham.
2025.1.26 Winnipeg police search for armed suspect in grocery store robbery
Winnipeg police are searching for a man involved in a grocery store robbery that saw two people threatened with a knife.
Police said they were called to a business in the 600 block of Notre Dame Avenue Thursday night for a robbery involving a suspect armed with a knife the prior evening.
An investigation revealed the incident happened just after 5 p.m. Wednesday. Police said a male suspect put several items in his backpack and tried to leave the store without paying. A loss prevention officer and a security guard confronted the suspect and asked him to return the merchandise. However, the suspect allegedly produced a knife and lunged at the victims, forcing them to retreat and allowing the suspect to escape.
No one was injured in the incident, police said.
Police are looking for the male suspect believed to be in his 20s, who they say stands around five-foot-eight-inches tall, with a slim build and short dark hair. He was wearing black framed glasses, a black and white flat brim hat, a black hoodie and parka, blue jeans, black and red runners with a grey backpack.
Police said the suspect is considered armed and dangerous and should not be approached. Anyone with information is asked to contact police or Crime Stoppers.
2025.1.20 Police looking for four suspects involved in Guelph jewelry store robbery
Smash and grab robberies have become a growing problem for jewelry stores across southwestern Ontario. Krista Sharpe has an update on a Guelph investigation.
The Guelph Police Service has released new information on four males they are trying to identify as part of a smash-and-grab investigation at Stone Road Mall.
Officers raced to the shopping centre around 5:35 p.m. Friday after receiving word of a robbery at an unnamed jewelry store.
They were told four masked males walked into the store and smashed display cases with hammers.
The suspects also sprayed a noxious substance, believed to be bear spray, as they ran from the mall. Police said a couple of people were taken to hospital with respiratory issues.
“Officers obviously responded quickly, but the suspects had been able to get away,” said Scott Tracey, a spokesperson for Guelph Police.
Suspect descriptions
On Monday, police released images and descriptions of the four suspects.
Tracey said he hoped, “if people recognize these individuals, or they haven’t spoken to police and maybe witnessed what happened or have any video, they’d give us a call.”
The first suspect was wearing an olive-green fleece-style hoodie, grey track pants, white running shoes with red and grey on the heel, red soles and a medical mask. He carried a hammer and a can of unidentified spray.
The second suspect was wearing a grey hoodie with a red logo on the left sleeve, gloves with red or orange on them, black pants, white running shoes and a medical mask. He carried a black duffle bag or knapsack.
The third suspect wore a black hoodie, black pants, black running shoes and a medical mask. He carried a black duffle bag or knapsack.
The fourth suspect was wearing a black hoodie, black pants with a white stripe from the hip to the knee, black running shoes and a medical mask. He also had a black duffle bag or knapsack.
Growing trend
The Guelph incident is just the latest in a what has been a growing trend in southwestern Ontario.
On Dec. 16, a jewelry store at the Cambridge Centre was robbed and, just two days later, another was hit inside Conestoga Mall in Waterloo.
According to Jewellers Vigilance Canada, a non-profit arm of the Canadian Jewellers Association, thieves target malls because they can easily get in and out of. Distraction thefts used to be popular, they said, but now smash-and-grabs are the most common crime reported by their members.
“What we say to jewelers… first, stay calm,” explained Scott Hayes, a security advisor with Jewellers Vigilance Canada. “Second, be compliant. Do not get involved. These people are using hammers and heavy implements to break glass most of the time and you don’t want that used on yourself.”
Most importantly, he said: “I think it’s prudent to stay calm and stay out of the way as much as possible.”
Shoppers who witness a robbery are also advised to steer clear of the thieves.
“Just watch, be observant,” suggested Chris Lewis, a former OPP commissioner and CTV News’ public safety analyst. “Try to gather as much information as you can in terms of what they’re wearing, their shoes or their pants, etc. Sometimes you’ll see a wrist or some skin so you can detect what their color of skin [is] and things that might help police down the road.”
Lewis also said these kinds of robberies are often linked to organized crime.
“The people coming with masks and gloves and hammers and doing what they’re doing, that’s not people just trying to pay their bills. These are criminals doing it for profit, and they’re doing it for others and ultimately, they get paid for it.”
North York area,
Wing Fung Wilfred Leung, 48
2025.1.16 (Toronto Police Service)News Release
Man Arrested in Fraud Investigation,
North York Area,
Image Released
Unit: 32 Division
Case #: 2025-9000184
The Toronto Police Service is making the public aware of a man arrested in a fraudulent loan scam targeting members of the Chinese community.
It is alleged that:
the accused would approach younger Chinese residents in the North York area
he would advise that he needed gas money to drive to university or to pick up family
the accused would request an e-transfer from the complainant
the accused would promise to pay the complainant back and even allow them to take pictures of his identification to gain their trust
the accused would receive the e-transfer and then cease communication with the complainant
On Wednesday, January 15, 2025, Wing Fung Wilfred Leung, 48, of Toronto, was arrested and charged with:
nine counts of Fraud Under $5000
nine counts of Possession of Property Obtained by Crime Under
He is scheduled to appear at the Ontario Court of Justice, 10 Armoury Street, on Monday, February 26, 2025, at 2:00 p.m., in room 201.
Investigators are concerned there may be more victims in the North York area. An image of Mr. Leung has been released.
2025.1.16 Porch thefts on the rise in Waterloo Region, police urge caution
Police have seen a rise in reported porch thefts in the region after a busy holiday season.
2025.1.15 More than 30 per cent of Canadian homicides in 2023 were committed by individuals in police custody or on supervision; five homicides were reported in Waterloo Region in 2024
34% of Canadian homicides committed by people released by court, police board hears
More than 30 per cent of Canadian homicides in 2023 were committed by individuals in police custody or on supervision; five homicides were reported in Waterloo Region in 2024.
More than 30 per cent of homicides in Canada in 2023 were committed by people already facing charges, or under community supervision, states a recently released Statistics Canada report.
The findings were shared at a Waterloo Regional Police Services Board meeting on Wednesday. Of the 778 homicides committed nationwide — equating to 1.94 homicides per 100,000 population — 34 per cent of people charged were on bail, remanded, on probation or sentenced to custody.
That trend isn’t just a national problem, said Waterloo Regional Police Chief Mark Crowell, as those awaiting court dates and not incarcerated are committing violent crimes locally as well.
“It is also occurring within Waterloo Region,” Crowell said.
“This is a continued point of advocacy for the Ontario Chiefs of Police, and it speaks to some of our larger commitments. A lot of that is focused on prolific offenders, those people who are known to be carrying out acts of violence and involved in organized crime and top-level offences.”
The national numbers only reach 2023, but local numbers for 2024 show Waterloo Region had five homicides, the same as 2023. The number equates to 0.74 victims per 100,000 population.
The homicide rate ranks the region 35th nationally among census metropolitan areas and 13th provincially.
Including four attempted homicides in 2024, the total of nine homicides and attempted homicides is the lowest in the region since 2019, when there were seven.
Of the nine, one was intimate partner-related and two were familial-related.
Of the five homicides in Waterloo Region in 2024, four involved firearms. There have also been 21 shootings in the region over the last three years, Crowell said.
Nationally, 39 per cent of homicides in 2023 were committed with a firearm.
“There’s no doubt the national landscape matters, but we’re also focusing on local solutions and our local response,” Crowell said.
Other national trends from the report show gang-related homicides totalled 25 per cent of the homicides in Canada, with the youth-accused portion of those gang-related homicides almost doubling from 16 per cent in 2022 to 31 per cent in 2023.
As well, 28 per cent of homicide victims were Indigenous and 38 per cent belonged to a racialized group. Two per cent of homicide victims were missing at the time of their death, with most of those Indigenous women.
In intimate partner homicides, 73 per cent of the victims were women.
2024.12.20 6 arrested, 5 remain at large in auto theft ring that operated around Toronto Pearson Airport: police
Peel police have arrested six people and issued arrest warrants for five more suspects who are allegedly part of a Quebec theft ring responsible for stealing more than 100 vehicles in and around Toronto Pearson International Airport.
On Friday, police announced the results of its investigation into the “well-coordinated” theft ring dubbed “Project Tallahassee.”
It began in July when the Airport Division Criminal Investigation Bureau “identified, mapped and analyzed crime patterns,” which led investigators to believe that a car theft ring was operating around the airport and targeting 2022 to 2024 Lexus SUVs, Toyota Tundras, Sequoias, Highlanders and Ram trucks.
“By leveraging advanced statistical data and crime trend analysis, they identified specific methods and tactics used by the thieves, their inner workings, and the routes they were using into and out of the airport area,” said Peel police, who collaborated with a number of forces and agencies, including the Greater Toronto Airports Authority and Canada Border Services Agency.
Officers conducted an operation between August and November that resulted in the arrest of six suspects. Police said they also executed several search warrants in Toronto that led to the seizure of computer programmers, master keys and signal-jamming devices.
They also recovered stolen vehicles worth almost $4 million.
On Friday, the six arrested suspects were identified as Jean Junior Goureille, 23; Ala Zadi, 27; Riccardo Charles, 35; Serkan Dikici Montimarquette, 22; Marie Mallous, 28; and Abdullah Farooq, 22.
Police said they have laid over 100 charges against the six.
Meanwhile, five more suspects remain at large and are wanted for a total of 48 auto theft-related offences. Investigators are looking for 30-year-old Marie-Sandy Desir, 31-year-old Shainna Faustin, 22-year-old Steven Trottier, 21-year-old Kyle Cain and 21-year-old Jamal Chery.
All of the suspects are from Quebec.
Police are urging them to seek legal counsel and turn themselves in.
“Peel Police continues to lead the field in arrests, just like in this investigation, which effectively shut down a proliferate auto theft ring,” Deputy Chief Marc Andrews said in a statement.
“This operation is a testament to the power of collaboration, data-driven investigations, and a shared commitment to protecting the public.”
A police helicopter helped track jewelry store robbers from Richmond Hill to Toronto, leading to the arrest of two men and two teenagers.
Video released by York Regional Police (YRP) on Wednesday shows the moment when four suspects get out of a vehicle in the parking lot of an apartment near Highway 27 and Finch Avenue.
They are then seen running towards a nearby wooded area.
“They are walking, sorta jogging with bags in their hands. And they know we’re here,” an officer is heard saying on the radio.
Shortly after, the four emerged from the trees, just on the south side of the apartment building, then subsequently ran back into the woods to get away from attending officers.
One by one, police, with the help of the canine unit, are seen rounding up and arresting all the suspects.
Hours earlier, the suspects allegedly used hammers to smash glass cases in a jewelry store located at a strip mall near Yonge Street and Levendale Road and took an unknown quantity of jewelry.
Police said an employee was assaulted during the incident and suffered minor injuries.
The suspects fled in a silver SUV, which was tracked down by YRP’s Air2 helicopter and later determined to have been stolen.
On Wednesday, investigators identified the two adult suspects as 24-year-old Marlando Mitchell from Brampton and 20-year-old Che Brooks Baptiste from Burlington. They are facing a total of nine charges.
The other two suspects, a 16-year-old Toronto boy and a 16-year-old Mississauga boy, cannot be named under the terms of the Youth Criminal Justice Act. Both have been charged with 12 offences.
Police said Mitchell and the two teenagers were out on a combined 10 release orders at the time of the robbery. One teen was also on probation, they added.
2024.12.13 PRINCE ALBERT – Two more people have been sentenced in the death of a woman whose body was found on a Saskatchewan highway with dozens of stab wounds and signs of being severely beaten.
Sheena Billette, who was 28, was found dead on a frozen highway north of La Ronge on Dec. 23, 2019.
Both Deborah McKenzie and Sharise Sutherland-Kayseas were sentenced at the Court of King’s Bench in Prince Albert on Dec. 11, 2024.
For the charge of manslaughter, Deborah McKenzie received 10 years in prison, while Sharise Sutherland-Kayseas was sentenced to 12 years in jail. Each also received a four-year sentence for kidnapping, to run concurrently.
Charlie Charles was previously sentenced in June 2024 to eight years for manslaughter, while Telsa Jane McKenzie was sentenced in January 2023 to just over four and a half years for manslaughter.
2024.12.12
PRINCE ALBERT – The Prince Albert Police Service (PA Police) is releasing a photo of a person of interest in a family/grandparent/friend emergency scam.
PA Police are currently investigating multiple reports from members of the public regarding this scam.
The scam involved a potential victim, often an older or vulnerable adult, receiving a phone call from someone claiming to be a family member or friend in an emergency and requiring money for various purposes.
The fraudsters will often work in tandem and connect the victim to another person claiming to be a police officer, lawyer, doctor, or representative of another profession. But this is a scam. Any legitimate authority would never make these requests.
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2024.12.10 Police in York Region arrest 17 suspects allegedly part of criminal network involved in GTA home invasions
Police in York Region have arrested 17 people who are allegedly part of a “multi-faceted criminal organization” involved in home invasions, armed robberies and drug trafficking in the Greater Toronto Area.
The results are part of a year-long investigation dubbed “Project Skyfall,” announced by York Regional Police Tuesday. The accused are facing a combined total of 83 charges.
“Today, we’re here to send a very strong message that the York Regional Police will not tolerate armed criminals violating the sanctity of the homes in our community. And we will use every resource available to us to eliminate the threats that illegal firearms and organized crime pose to York Region’s residents,” Deputy Chief of Investigations Alvaro Almeida said during a news conference.
In addition to the arrest, investigators also seized $14.4 million worth of drugs and three weapons, which were displayed during the news conference.
SOME SUSPECTS ALREADY OUT ON BAIL, POLICE SAY
Almeida said six of the people were on bail conditions or other forms of release when they were arrested, including one who was on parole for armed robbery and discharging a gun.
He added that four others have firearm prohibitions.
Almeida revealed prior to the news conference, seven of the suspects were already out on bail.
“We know that profit-driven crime is complex and that these responsible know no boundaries. If it makes them money, be it armed robbery, trafficking in drugs, or terrorizing a family within their own home, criminals will jump at the opportunity, and they will repeat this behaviour time and time again. These individuals pose a danger to our community,” he said.
“They should be held in custody, but unfortunately, they have been released. This needs to change. I can assure you that police are working everywhere very hard to prevent crime every single day.”
SUSPECT ACCESSED GOVERNMENT DATABASE
Police also confirmed one person charged with unauthorized use of a computer worked for the Ministry of Transportation at the time of their arrest.
The suspect allegedly accessed the databanks of the ministry “to benefit the criminal network.”
Det. Sgt. Ryan Boulay of the hold-up unit would not say if the individual is still employed, directing reporters to reach out to the ministry for that information.
“What I can tell you is that we’re confident that there is no further information being accessed by those offenders at this time,” he said.
HOW PROJECT SKYFALL BEGAN
The investigation started on Christmas Eve last year following a home invasion in Vaughan. During the news conference, they played a video released in July showing officers responding to the Dec. 24 incident in the area of Forest Drive and Harmonia Crescent.
An individual is heard in the video telling a 911 operator that somebody had broken into their house and tried to “rob and threaten” them. But before the 911 operator can reply, a suspect is heard in the background.
“Get off the phone. Sit down and don’t move,” they say before repeatedly asking the resident, “Where is the money?” In the audio, the resident can be heard saying, “That is all I have,” but the suspect or suspects continue to demand money.
Officers later arrived at the home and are seen in the video walking up to the front door. At that point, screaming can be heard, followed by officers commanding three suspects to come out with their hands up.
One officer discharged their gun multiple times, but no one was hit. One suspect was taken into custody while the two others fled.
“This video, as shocking as it is, hardly captures the extent of the trauma and terror that was caused when these criminals commit home invasions and armed robberies,” Almeida said on Tuesday.
SUSPECT VEHICLE STOLEN IN CALGARY
Officials also revealed a black sedan involved in the Christmas Eve home invasion was stolen during an armed carjacking in Calgary, and one of the suspects was on bail conditions “out west” and allegedly removed his GPS monitoring device before moving to the GTA.
Of the 17 suspects, three are Saskatchewan residents.
“We’re alleging that some of the offenders in the GTA were the conspirators who were planning these types of home invasions, and some of the other offenders were the ones actually committing the acts,” said Boulay.
“We believe that three potential home invasions or armed robberies were going to occur that were disrupted, and that’s as a result of the ongoing investigation.”
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