Chronic car thieves leave trail of damage including photos and videos to chronicle their crimes

This resembles a fantasy story -- chronic car thieves leave trail of damage, chronicles crimes in photos, vidoes

It is being called one of the most brazen crime sprees ever uncovered, a case so unusual that justice officials have been unable to find any similar scenarios across Canada.

Two chronic Winnipeg car thieves -- a 16-year-old girl and her 18-year-old boyfriend -- spent an entire month wreaking havoc across the Prairies by stealing vehicles, gas and property and leaving a trail of costly damage in their wake.

In the process, they documented nearly every one of their crimes by taking pictures and videos that show them taunting police, drinking and driving, boasting to their friends and celebrating their accomplishments by dancing and making out on the top of stolen vehicles.

"In all my years... there has never been anything like this," veteran Crown attorney Elizabeth Laite told a Winnipeg courtroom Tuesday.

"This resembles a fantasy story. You would think Hollywood would come up with something like this," added her colleague, Stephanie Hermiston. "It is an exceptional case, extraordinary circumstances."

The female accused -- who can't be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act -- has pleaded guilty to 21 separate crimes stemming from the August to September 2009 rampage.

They include thefts, possession of stolen property, mischief and breaches of court orders. Her adult co-accused is expected to deal with his matters next month. He faces a lengthy prison term.

The Crown plans to show some of the photos and videos in court when the sentencing resumes. They are seeking the maximum youth sentence of two years behind bars for the girl, who has a long history of similar property offences and was on probation at the time. She is a Level 4 auto thief, the highest risk category assigned by police, and has previously been turned in by her frustrated parents who are unable to control her.

"There is no other sentence but the maximum that would be fit and fair here," said Hermiston.

Her lawyer is asking for her to be released immediately with time in custody, which is at 199 days and counting. Provincial court Judge Rocky Pollack has now adjourned the hearing until Aug. 19 for completion of a pre-sentence report probing the girl's personal background, prospects for rehabilitation and suggestions for controlling her in the community.

The two accused -- dubbed "Bonnie and Clyde" by some justice officials -- were originally sentenced last June for a variety of car thefts and property crimes. She got 18 months probation, while the young man got two years of custody less time already served. Both were ordered by the courts to stay away from each other.

In August, the man was released on a day pass from jail to go shopping with his mother at Walmart. While browsing through the aisles, he suddenly took off, stole his mother's car and picked up his girlfriend.

The pair then embarked on 30 days of chaos, which included stops in rural Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, court was told.

"They were flouting court orders, and thumbing their noses at society," said Hermiston.

Some of the "highlights" included burning a Hummer they stole just outside Winnipeg, nearly mowing down a vehicle owner who tried to interrupt a theft in eastern Saskatchewan and scrawling lyrics to a crude "rap song" over the interior of another car they left behind to be found by police.

"It said 'F the cops, they'll never catch us,'" said Hermiston. The pair would typically steal one vehicle, drive it for a few hours or days, cause extensive damage and then "trade" it for another one.

In one case, a rural Manitoba resident woke up to go to work and found his car missing, with a damaged one sitting exactly in its place.

"They would leave them behind after they'd picked over them like vultures," said Hermiston. The pair, along with some friends, would also go on "raiding parties" in which they would damage dozens of cars at a time just for kicks. Most of these occurred in the Steinbach area.

"The RCMP had to call in reinforcements from all over the province. They couldn't even keep up with the phone calls coming in from people reporting damage," said Laite, who was unable to provide an accurate estimate of financial loss.

I have never seen anything like these crimes before. It is pretty shocking. However, I am not sure that prison for this young woman would be appropriate. She has already spent nearly 200 days in custody. Prisons are known as the schools of crime and often increase one's chances of re-offending when released, especially for youth, as they learn new skills to avoid detection and new crime skills. This could be dangerous for this teen to learn anything new about stealing cars. I believe she should be released with time served, as her lawyer suggested.

Carjacker who ran over woman gets 3 years

Carjacker who ran over woman gets 3 years

A man who comes from a family of habitual car thieves has been given a three-year jail term for the violent carjacking of a woman in the city's North End last fall.

The 22-year-old pleaded guilty to robbery during an afternoon provincial court hearing in Winnipeg on Monday.

CBC News is not identifying the man in order to report on his extensive youth criminal record, as well as those of underage members of his family involved in stealing cars and driving them dangerously.

Susan Everett, 43, was dragged, pummelled and run over by the man, who brazenly stole her idling car when she left it unattended in the back lane behind her home on Sept. 4, 2009.

'My body has been seriously injured as well as my heart and my head.'—Susan Everett

When the man jumped into Everett's new Pontiac Vibe and began driving away, the woman reached into the driver's side window and grabbed onto the car's steering wheel to try and stop him from driving off.

Court heard on Monday that Everett's feet were protruding from the window as the car sped away.

Despite the woman's pleas for the driver to stop, the man sped off. He punched Everett twice in the face as she clung to the car and dragged her about 60 metres before running over her leg when she let go of the wheel and fell into the street.

At the time she was run over, the car was travelling at about 60 km/h, court heard.

Everett suffered a number of scrapes, bruises and abrasions, and has been unable to work in the months since the incident occurred, court heard.

"My body has been seriously injured as well as my heart and my head," she said in a victim impact statement read in court.

Everett said her peace of mind has been "ripped away," even though she and her husband have spent $1,000 on extra security measures at their home.

"I get a pit in my stomach every time I turn down my alley," she told Judge Kathlyn Mary Curtis.

"I'm very angry this has happened to me. My husband and I live a quiet life," Everett said.

The man drove the car to an area outside Winnipeg where it was recovered and eventually returned to Everett. The robber was arrested on Sept. 5 and has been behind bars ever since.

'Bad day' triggered violence

According to the man's lawyer, he was staying with relatives just a few houses away from Everett's home and woke up late for work after drinking alcohol the night before.

After he got into a heated argument with his aunt, he left the house "in a huff, quite upset," Greg Hawrysh said.

He saw the running vehicle and jumped into it on "impulse," Hawrysh said.

The man is sorry for what happened after that, the lawyer told court.

"He wants to be a better person," Hawrysh said. "He doesn't want to hurt people anymore — he doesn't want to hurt himself anymore."

'Explaining that it was a really bad day isn't good enough.'—Judge Kathlyn Mary Curtis

Curtis was told that as a teenager in Surrey, B.C., the man was convicted of a number of auto-theft related offences along with possession of stolen property and dangerous driving.

The judge said she didn't buy the man's excuse for the "terrible thing" he did.

"It doesn't cut it," Curtis said. "Explaining that it was a really bad day isn't good enough."

The man was given double-time credit for the nine months spent in custody after his arrest, meaning he has 18 months left to serve. Curtis also ordered him to serve a three-year probation term after he is released.

In a short address to the court, the man said Everett doesn't have to be afraid of him and that he has no plans to bother her again.

"I feel terrible. I'm sorry," the man said.

Curtis suggested the robber's words rang hollow.

"I don't know how much comfort that is to her," the judge said.

Relatives known for car theft

Although he has a different surname, the man's cousins are known in the justice system as the most prolific car thieves in Winnipeg's history.

They are linked to a number of high-profile stolen vehicle incidents and have garnered more than 180 auto theft-related convictions.

The man's 17-year-old cousin was arrested in December and charged with manslaughter in connection to a fatal crash that killed 47-year-old Zdzislaw Andrzejczak, a city mechanic. He remains in custody pending trial.

Andrzejczak died shortly after a stolen 2005 Hummer H2 drove through a stop sign in the North End and slammed into his small car.

Another male relative was Manitoba's first teen auto thief to be given an adult sentence by a judge for his crimes.

Some of the man's cousins have been sued by Manitoba Public Insurance to recoup losses incurred from their auto-theft-related crimes, court records show.

More than $165,000 in civil court judgments have been awarded to MPI against two cousins. Other claims against additional family members remain before the courts.

Carjack incident brings trauma, court told

A Winnipeg woman says she’s afraid to go outdoors after she was beaten outside her home trying to prevent a man from stealing her car.

“I am very angry this happened to me,” the woman told court at a sentencing hearing Monday. “My husband and I live a quiet life. We worked hard and enjoyed spending time around the house and yard. Now I’m afraid to open the door, let alone go out.”

The woman said she and her husband spent thousands of dollars on home security following the September 2009 carjacking. She now carries a personal alarm wherever she goes.

“This incident has wounded me physically, but the emotional scars will take far longer to heal,” said the woman, who told court she has not returned to work since the incident.

Andrew Alexander Slivka, 22, pleaded guilty to one count of robbery and was sentenced to three years in prison.

Slivka said the woman has nothing to fear from him.

“I feel real terrible that she lives in fear,” he said. “I’m not the kind of person to retaliate or do anything ... I want her to recover. I don’t want her to be scared.”

Court heard Slivka jumped in the woman’s Pontiac Vibe as it sat running behind the garage of her Aberdeen Avenue home. As Slivka started to drive away, the woman reached in through the driver’s door window, grabbed the steering wheel and pleaded with Slivka to stop.

Slivka attempted to shake her off the vehicle. When she wouldn’t release her grip on the steering wheel, he punched her two times in the head. Court heard Slivka was driving 60 km/h when the woman, fearing for her life, let go of the car and tumbled to the road.

Police arrested Slivka several days later at a Main Street doughnut shop.

Defence lawyer Greg Hawrysh said Slivka was staying at his aunt’s home on Aberdeen Avenue where the two had been involved in a “heated argument.” Still angry, Slivka left the house, saw the woman’s car and decided to steal it “on impulse,” Hawrysh said.

Slivka told Judge Mary Curtis he had “a really bad day.”

“That doesn’t cut it ... that just isn’t good enough,” Curtis said. “You were lucky the injuries weren’t worse than they were.”

Slivka received double credit of 18 months time served. Curtis sentenced him to an additional three years probation.

I would like to know more about this man's childhood background and other mitigating circumstances. Coming from a family of car thieves, is definitely a major mitigating factor. When surrounded by criminals, I doubt that this man was taught morals, guidelines or values as a child and teen. He was surrounded by negative role models, who clearly had a negative influence on him. I do not believe that this man should have been sentenced to 1.5 years prison. This act was impulsive and I do not believe that prison will address the root causes of his criminal behaviour. It will likely further entrench him in the criminal lifestyle and have a negative impact on him. I believe that he should have been sentenced to a 2 year conditional sentence and 3 years probation, with conditions to participate in programming, community service, restitution, etc. 

Tories reintroduce auto-theft bill

Tories reintroduce auto-theft bill -- seek to make it stand alone crime

OTTAWA -- Stealing a car could soon stop being considered on par with shoplifting -- at least when it comes to the justice system.

Federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson reintroduced a bill Tuesday that seeks to make auto theft a separate offence in the Criminal Code. It also sets out a six-month mandatory minimum sentence for a third conviction of auto theft.

The Manitoba government has been lobbying for years to give auto theft its own presence in the criminal code, often noting it is illegal to steal a cow but stealing a car is still considered just simple property theft.

The charge laid for stealing a car right now depends on how much the car was worth -- theft over $5,000 or theft under $5,000. It often has meant car thieves are charged with the same offence on paper that goes to teenagers caught stealing makeup or a pack of gum.

Theft under $5,000 has a maximum sentence of six months in jail while theft over $5,000 has a maximum sentence of 10 years. Neither offence has a mandatory minimum sentence.

This is the second time around for this particular bill. Nicholson first introduced it a year ago and it was debated and passed at second reading in the House of Commons last fall. However it died on the order paper when Prime Minister Stephen Harper prorogued Parliament in December.

It now has to start from scratch.

Manitoba Attorney General Andrew Swan said he is pleased Ottawa is making another effort to make auto theft a stand-alone crime.

But he said the Harper government could go even further by designating it a violent crime, not a property crime as it is considered now.

Swan said in Manitoba stolen cars too often end up in crashes where innocent people, including police officers, are hurt or killed.

"When someone steals a car too many times there are tragic consequences," he said.

At least eight Manitobans have been killed in collisions involving stolen cars since 2004. Unlike in many other cities where car theft is the realm of organized criminals trafficking in expensive vehicles, the vast majority of car thefts in Winnipeg involve joyriding teenagers.

Efforts to target repeat offenders have helped cut car-theft rates drastically in Winnipeg but there is still a lon way to go.

In 2009, approximately six cars were stolen in Winnipeg every day, down 75 per cent since 2004.

Swan also said he wants to see how Ottawa amends the Youth Criminal Justice Act so that repeat thieves can be kept in custody longer.

Swan meets with his western Canadian counterparts in Vancouver next week to review what Ottawa is doing on the anti-crime front and to present their own ideas of what more should be done to enhance public safety.

Tougher sentences for youth involved in auto-theft will not make our society safer in the long run. Prison is a quick fix. It fails to address the underlying causes of crime and the factors contributing to crime. Longer sentences for youth actually increase recidivism rates when they are released, as prisons are the schools of crime, especially for youth. Gangs, drugs and pro criminal attitudes and behaviours are prevalent along with negative role models and influences. Youth learn to perfect their criminal skills and only become more hardened criminals when released, making it harder for police to catch them when they re-offend. This is not ensuring our safety. This is not in society's best interests. We need to help these troubled youth, not imprison them. Prison only increases their tendency towards criminality and their criminality is strengthened. 

MMS are harmful as they treat all offenders as equal, when they are not, and severely limit judicial discretion in considering all the relevant factors and circumstances of the crime and the offender, in deciding upon an appropriate sanction. It also only further overcrowds prisons, leading to increased hostility, bitter-ness and violence levels. 

Man gets prison time for removing ankle bracelet after stealing vehicle

Ditched ankle monitor, gets prison time

An electronic ankle monitor didn’t deter Gerren Jeffrey McKay from stealing cars. Maybe prison will.

The level 4 car thief was sentenced Thursday to 28 months in prison (2 years, 4 months)

McKay, 18, was arrested last December following a high-speed chase in a stolen SUV.

Court heard McKay and another level 4 car thief were both sporting ankle monitors when they broke into three homes and stole a Chevrolet Suburban.

Police linked the pair’s whereabouts to two of the homes where security alarms had been tripped, said Crown attorney Liz Laite.

By the time McKay and his partner had cut off their bracelets, police were in pursuit.

Police chased the pair along Kenaston Boulevard at speeds reaching 100 km/h. The chase ended after police boxed them in near Chief Peguis Trail.

This article is very biased. It does not tell of any mitigating factors, previous record, the offender's background life, etc. Therefore, I cannot make an informed decision.

Removing ankle bracelets backfires against car thieves
TWO of Winnipeg's worst car thieves thought they'd pulled a fast one by cutting off their electronic ankle bracelets and tossing them from the window of a speeding, stolen car.
Turns out the joke was on them -- one of the devices somehow flew into the backseat, without their knowledge, providing police a direct link to their location.
"If you even so much as bend one of these bracelets the wrong way, an alert will send," Crown attorney Liz Laite told court Thursday of the December 2009 incident. "In this case, the police knew these two were together, and exactly where they were."
Members of the stolen auto unit were able to communicate with the monitoring company, based out of Atlanta, and captured the pair after a dangerous, high-speed chase ended with plenty of damage but no injuries in Elmwood.
The 18-year-old passenger of the stolen Ford Fusion pleaded guilty Thursday to several charges stemming from his role in the incident and was given a two-year prison sentence under a joint-recommendation from Crown and defence lawyers.
The Free Press is not publishing his name in order to include details about his extensive criminal past as a youth, which would otherwise be protected by law. This incident is his first adult conviction.
"He is a danger to society. The public has to be protected from him," said Laite. "You hope at some point the light will go on for him and he will realize this is ridiculous. Otherwise he's going to end up doing a life sentence on the installment plan."
The young man has numerous car theft convictions as a teen and is a Level 4 offender, which is the most serious designation given by police. He is a friend of three infamous Winnipeg brothers, who have racked up hundreds of convictions over the years and are deemed among the "worst car thieves in Canada," said Laite.
In fact, the 17-year-old brother was allegedly behind the wheel of the Fusion and remains before the courts. Laite said they will be seeking an adult sentence against him if convicted. His older brother is now an adult and serving time at Stony Mountain Institution, while his younger brother has become a regular visitor to the Manitoba Youth Centre.
The man, and the alleged driver of the vehicle, began their most recent crime spree by stealing an SUV. They went to a residential neighbourhood and broke into three empty homes. During the final break-in, the pair drove away with the victim's Fusion.
They took the car for a spin and slashed their ankle bracelets while in motion, said Laite. Police were alerted and tracked the vehicle to Kenaston Boulevard, where a brief chase ensued. Officers had to call it off when speeds reached 100 km/h, said Laite.
Police tracked the vehicle again in the area of North Kildonan. The driver was eventually boxed in by several police cars on Chalmers Avenue.

Shining a spotlight on young car thieves
Robbery, car theft decline dramatic
Auto thefts down: police
Young car thieves growing up

Similar to the previous article, I found that no mitigating factors or information about the offender's background life were mentioned or what his defence lawyer argued for. It is biased towards the Crown's side of painting this man as a danger to society. I cannot make an informed decision based on this little amount of info given, as to whether the sentence is too harsh or proportionate. I would also like to know the previous sanctions he was sentenced to as a teen, for car theft.

I think that we need to look at the underlying factors contributing to car theft among youths and help to address those problems.

I think this man should have gotten a conditional sentence with a mandatory requirement to take one of these below courses designed to curb car theft. What I don't understand is when the Crown calls these people a "danger to society." The only time they are dangerous, are when police are chasing them, resulting in a high speed chase. If police dont chase them, they are no danger to society. 

Here are some programs designed to help prevent car theft:

Menu of programs

These organizations offer programs to teenaged car thieves. Their work is scrutinized as part of the National Crime Prevention Centre project.
Winnipeg School Division CHOICES program -- Offers a variety of programs including working with at-risk youth at inner-city schools, having class discussions about gangs and substance abuse.
Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Winnipeg -- Connects high-risk youth with positive mentoring experiences through their adult volunteers.
New Directions Resource Centre -- Works with chronic car thieves referred to their agency by probation services. They offer individualized counselling and assessment, job training and life-skills mentoring and specialized programs for those with fetal alcohol disorder.
Macdonald Youth Services Vehicle For Change program -- An intensive, 10-hour therapy program designed to encourage "non-criminal alternative thinking and behaviour."
Onashowewin Shift To Live program -- A mandatory two-hour program for first-time youth auto thieves.