Brazen car thieves who continue to plague Winnipeg have a tightly-knit bond with each other that almost resembles family, sources say.
As police continue to decry the shamelessness of Winnipeg's car theft subculture following Wednesday's arrest of a 17-year-old chronic car thief after an 11-day flight from justice, the Free Press has learned about the relationship of the teen to other car thieves in the city.
Justice sources said the youth who went missing after removing his court-ordered movement-tracking bracelet on April 27 is the boyfriend of one of two 15-year-old girls charged in connection with an incident the next day in which a plainclothes officer was allegedly injured by a stolen SUV at College Avenue and Sinclair Street.
It was the search for the 17-year-old on April 28 that put police in harm's way when they came across a 15-year-old serial auto offender in the stolen vehicle who allegedly rammed the officer in order to evade arrest.
The girls were passengers in that vehicle. After a five-kilometre police pursuit, both girls and the boy who was driving were arrested, charged and held in custody at the Manitoba Youth Centre.
Tuesday, the girls were released on bail by provincial court Judge Judith Elliott and released to the custody of Child and Family Services.
A source said virtually the minute they entered their CFS group home, they bolted, only to be found a day later by stolen-auto police sitting in a stolen Chevrolet Avalanche in the 1500 block of Magnus Avenue.
The 17-year-old, along with another 15-year-old chronic car thief and one of the girls were arrested, charged and placed back in custody -- it's believed that the other girl fled from arrest and is still at large.
"When the public hears about this, they're going to go nuts," the source said.
Police alleged Thursday that the 17-year-old tried to assault the arresting officer with a screwdriver before fleeing the area. They also claim he stole at least one other car while out on the lam.
He was arrested on nearby Gilbert Avenue a short time later.
Thursday, police again said their frustration is mounting with the dangerous and unrepentant culture of young car thieves in the city who are involved in an almost familial association with each other.
"When they're granted bail and released on conditions, a lot of those conditions are not to be in touch with other individuals that they're involved with -- yet they keep going back to their friends and just completely disregard their conditions," police spokeswoman Const. Jacqueline Chaput said.
Chaput said another trend police have noticed is how chronic auto thieves are stealing cars to get to appointments and auto-theft rehabilitation courses -- in some cases even to pick up friends being released from the Manitoba Youth Centre.
"They'll steal a car to get to the course they'll need to get to, or whatever program they need to get to -- they don't think twice about it," Chaput said.
"That's how blatant the disregard is -- it's unacceptable."
About 100 youths are classified as Level 4 offenders in the Winnipeg Auto Theft Suppression Strategy, a program started in 2005 to combine the efforts of police, probation officers and Manitoba Public Insurance in clamping down on auto theft in Winnipeg.
Only six have so far been given ankle bracelets. The 17-year-old youth arrested Wednesday was the first to remove his and allegedly resume stealing cars. The province will hand out 20 of the bracelets as part of a pilot project that began in April.
Police and local politicians have long said that auto theft should be considered a violent offence under the Criminal Code and that more efforts should be made to rehabilitate chronic car thieves while in custody.
Det. Sgt. Kevin Kavitch of the stolen auto unit said recently that the drop in auto theft is dramatic following a few key arrests. That hard work is foiled when the teens are quickly cut loose by the courts on bail conditions they seldom keep.
james.turner@freepress.mb.ca
PREVIOUS
