OPP, SQ and Mirabel police make six arrests; suspects tied to Vankleek Hill home invasion

UPDATED: Monday, February 8, 1 p.m.

The Sûreté du Québec (SQ), Mirabel police and the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) executed search warrants in Mirabel, Brownsburg-Chatham and Hawkesbury on Wednesday, February 3 in relation to several criminal offences that occurred between November 26, 2009 and January 6, 2010, including armed robberies, home invasions and violent break and enters.

One of the suspects charged this week is the manager of a Hawkesbury bank where one such robbery occurred, two days before Christmas.

Following the latest incident of a break and enter at a residence in Lachute - where SQ officers surprised the two suspects and apprehended them - a joint police investigation was led under the direction of the OPP Criminal Investigation Branch. As a result, four additional suspects were arrested and are being held on numerous charges.

Those charges are in relation to a series of incidents that took place across Western Quebec and Eastern Ontario in the last few months.

The first two incidents were a break-in that occurred between November 26 and 27 at Stephanie's Restaurant, on Highway 34 near Hawkesbury, in which an undisclosed amount of cash was stolen, and a home invasion on November 30 at a Vankleek Hill residence in which masked suspects assaulted the homeowner and stole undisclosed amounts of jewellery and cash.

The homeowner, Michel Martel, had previously been assaulted and robbed at his same residence over a year earlier, on June 24, 2008, but said the two incidents are not related whatsoever. Martel said the suspects were different on both occasions and, while the first incident was professional - involving multiple firearms - the second was "amateur" in nature.

Nevertheless, he was assaulted in both cases, though he specified the assault was worse in the first robbery. During the November 30 incident, he said he was punched in the face, causing his lips to split open and bleed.

Furthermore, in the second incident, Martel said he knew his assailants. "I didn't know all six of [those arrested], but I know three of them quite well."

He added the recent arrests have reassured him somewhat, saying, "I finally slept at my house this past weekend."

Bank manager arrested

Other incidents include a December 14 home invasion in Mirabel, Québec in which a female resident was bound and a safe containing cash was taken, as well as a robbery on December 16 where the victim was lured to a residence in Brownsburg-Chatham. The victim was bound, driven from the scene and left abandoned in his vehicle, once the suspects stole an undisclosed amount of cash.

The armed bank robbery took place at the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) in Hawkesbury on December 23, where the suspects fled the bank with an also undisclosed amount of cash.

A CIBC spokesman confirmed this weekend that one of the suspects charged, France Maurice, 39, of Hawkesbury, was the branch manager at that location, at 275 Main St. E. in Hawkesbury.

Also charged with robbery are Martin Paquin-Larocque, 19, of Brownsburg-Chatham; Vincent Maurice, 18 of Brownsburg-Chatham; Josee Maurice, 36 of Brownsburg-Chatham; and Marcel Larocque, 52 of Brownsburg-Chatham.

The five appeared in L'Orignal court on Thursday, February 4.

Robert St-Jean, 35, of Brownsburg-Chatham, was charged in relation to the break and enter in Lachute, Quebec. He appeared in court in St-Jerome, Quebec in January and pled guilty to the charge.

An arrest warrant was initially outstanding for Pascal Normand, 32 of Lachute, for robbery, as he had escaped the first sweep by the joint police forces. However, Vancouver police arrested Normand outside a rooming house this weekend, the OPP confirmed, and is expected to be transported back to Ontario shortly.

OPP said they do not believe Normand is related to any of his co-accused.

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