Two men from the GTA are facing charges after a theft incident at the Peterborough Home Depot on Tuesday evening.
Police responded around 7:30 pm to reports of a theft in progress at the store, where two suspects were apprehended.
Officers identified the suspects as linked to a previous theft report and believe they are part of an organized crime retail theft ring operating across the GTA. A search revealed small quantities of heroin and fentanyl, cash, a phone, and drug paraphernalia.
A 24-year-old Toronto man faces charges, including trafficking heroin and methamphetamine, theft under $5000, and failure to comply with release conditions.
A 24-year-old man from Brampton, also wanted on an immigration warrant, was charged with obstructing a peace officer, theft under $5000, and multiple breaches of his release conditions. Both men were already under court-ordered conditions related to other cases in Peel Region.
Peterborough Police Chief Stuart Betts commented on the arrest, stating, “The fact that both individuals are at large in our community on various forms of release, one who is also wanted on an immigration warrant, is troubling. There is often a perspective that here in Peterborough we are isolated from the issues of the ‘big city,’ but as I have been saying for quite some time, we have big city issues to deal with. These suspects travelled from Brampton to commit their crimes in our community and were stopped by the quick response of police officers and thanks to alert staff in Home Depot who recognized them as part of an organized ring of people stealing from Home Depots across the GTA. We will be sharing identifying information with police services in surrounding jurisdictions to assist in any ongoing investigations in the province.”
(Written by: Scott Arnold)
