Police target car-theft family

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Zdzislaw Andrzejczak: killed in crash (FAMILY PHOTO)

Winnipeg police are focusing on the city's most prolific family of car thieves as they search for two accomplices in last week's deadly stolen Hummer crash, the Free Press has learned.

Investigators believe three people were inside the vehicle when it slammed into a car, killing 47-year-old Zdzislaw Andrzejczak. The alleged driver, an 18-year-old man previously linked to a 2008 fatal crash, was arrested Monday and charged with manslaughter. Now police are looking for the two other occupants who fled the scene.

Court documents show a 17-year-old high-risk offender was allegedly with the Hummer driver on the day of the crash. Based on prior criminal convictions, the pair were under court orders to have no contact with each other.

Police are now searching for the youth, along with at least one of his teen cousins, as part of their ongoing investigation, according to several justice sources. No charges had been laid and no arrests made as of late Wednesday afternoon.

"I've been hearing a lot of rumours and calling the police all day to see if anyone (with their last name) has been brought in yet," defence lawyer Lori Van Dongen told the Free Press. She has represented most of the family members in recent years. "I'm sure once they're brought in, I will be hearing from them."

Her clients, who can't be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, have been frequently on the court docket, costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars and putting countless innocent lives at risk.

The 17-year-old boy and his three cousins, ages 17, 19 and 21, have racked up more than 200 convictions in the past five years but clearly haven't been deterred by the criminal consequences. They include numerous counts of car theft, dangerous driving, fleeing the police and possessing stolen goods, along with dozens of court breaches.

Van Dongen said the youngest brother recently got out of jail. His girlfriend hung herself while he was in custody, leaving behind their infant child, who is now being raised by her family.

"I sure hope he wasn't involved, as he's been doing real good lately," Van Dongen said. His 19-year-old brother has also been out of custody, but the 21-year-old is in Stony Mountain penitentiary serving a five-year sentence for crimes including a high-speed police chase in which he drove over boulevards, ran stop signs and red lights and drove into oncoming traffic while going more than 30 km/h over the speed limit.

Police sources say the family members routinely laugh off their arrests and joke about how fast they can drive their stolen cars in an attempt to evade arrest.

The 17-year-old brother once told a probation officer at the age of 12 how it was "fun" to drive a stolen car at high speeds towards oncoming traffic.

The three brothers have four other siblings under the age of 13 and police expect to be dealing with them soon, based on the family history.

Manitoba Public Insurance has obtained more than $200,000 in judgments against the family members, including one for $100,000 in 2007 following one of the city's worst property- crime sprees in recent history that also involved all of the boys.

In the span of just a few weeks, beginning in late 2004, the group was responsible for stealing five cars, three of which were written off, and damaging 38 others, including a police car that was destroyed in a high-speed crash.

They also sent one car smashing through the window of an empty River Heights apartment block by pinning down the accelerator with a brick, an incident the realtor handling the building described as an act of "terrorism." The group also left numerous senior citizens in tears by targeting cars in an underground parkade in North Kildonan for senseless acts of vandalism on Boxing Day 2004.

MPI officials hope that by gaining the ability to garnishee any potential future earnings and assets of these individuals, a much stronger message will be sent to teen criminals than they are currently getting from the courts and the Youth Criminal Justice Act. But MPI admits it's possible they will never see a single penny.

The family's mother, a crack cocaine addict on welfare, has previously told the Free Press her children are "not scared" of the criminal justice system and she blamed the police for going after them.

"I think the police are just putting a whole bunch of stuff on them. And they beat my boys up real good when they arrested them," she said in the 2005 interview.

www.mikeoncrime.com

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition December 17, 2009 B1