Woman charged in string of break-ins, arson in eastern part of city

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This article was published 02/04/2025 (207 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A small-business owner is relieved police have a suspect in custody after a rash of property crimes in east Winnipeg, including an incident in which his detached garage and SUV were torched after a break-in.

A 23-year-old Winnipeg woman is facing more than a dozen charges connected to the crime spree in which 10 garages or sheds and two homes were broken into, and about $12,000 in property stolen, between March 13 and April 1.

“It was good. Finally, they caught her and everybody relaxed,” Sung An, owner of Sky Sundae, said Wednesday.

An, who operates the ice cream shop at 301 Ottawa Ave., said he had heard neighbours discussing a string of break-ins near the area, but did not expect his business to be targeted.

That’s why he was surprised when he reviewed surveillance footage after a fire on March 22, and saw a woman had jumped over his fence and entered his detached garage. She remained inside for more than an hour before smoke began billowing from the building, An said.

“Someone called 911 and I thought, ‘Oh, what happened? My place is burning,’” he said.

The garage remained standing Wednesday, but was boarded up and blackened by flames, particularly around its roof.

A 2023 Hyundai Tucson was also destroyed in the blaze, he said.

An, who also showed the Free Press a picture of the suspect’s face, captured by a neighbour’s security camera, said he had never seen her before the break-in.

Police contacted the business owner Tuesday, letting him know a suspect was in custody, he said.

In a news release Wednesday, the Winnipeg Police Service said officers arrested a woman near the intersection of Melbourne Avenue and Brazier Street Monday. They were called to the area after an alarm went off inside a garage on Chelsea Avenue.

Raven Davianna Beasley has been charged with 12 break-in offences and one count of arson causing damage to property. She was detained in custody.

Court records show she has convictions for theft, forcible entry and assault. She was sentenced in August to 90 days in custody after admitting to forcing her way into a boarded-up home on Redwood Avenue and, in a separate incident, stealing hundreds of dollars in property from a car parked at The Forks.

Court heard at her sentencing she has struggled with drug addiction since spending time in a homeless shelter after the death of her guardian grandmother in 2020.

“She’s likable, smart and has a lot of potential,” her lawyer, Kevin Sneesby, told court at the time. “She just needs to stay off the drugs.”

The woman is now accused of breaking in to:

• A detached garage on the 400 block of Larsen Avenue, with about $700 in property stolen, at 2:59 p.m. on March 13.
• A home on the 400 block of Jamison Avenue while the occupants were asleep at 1:30 a.m. on March 20; nothing was reported stolen.
• A home on the 400 block of Ottawa Avenue, with more than $5,000 in property stolen, at 9:09 a.m. that day.
• A shed on the 400 block of Neil Avenue at 2:48 p.m. that day; nothing was reported stolen.
• A detached garage on the 400 block of Munroe Avenue at 4:49 p.m. that day; nothing was reported stolen.
• Another detached garage on the same block between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. that day; nothing was reported stolen.
• A detached garage on the 400 block of Winterton Avenue, with about $5,000 in property stolen, between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. that day.
• A detached garage on the 300 block of Ottawa Avenue, with about $500 in property stolen, between 5:19 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. on March 22. The garage, a 2023 Hyundai Tucson and other items were destroyed in a suspected arson that evening, with an estimated total loss of $60,000.
• Detached garages on the 300 block of Bronx Avenue and the 200 block of Chelsea Avenue, and two on the 300 block of Chelsea, with about $1,000 in property stolen, between midnight and 12:44 a.m. Monday.

— With files from Dean Pritchard

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca