Man accused of stealing metal from commercial air conditioning units on more than a dozen building rooftops

Winnipeg police have arrested a man accused of stripping out and stealing metal from commercial air conditioning units on the rooftops of more than a dozen local businesses and churches in recent months.

The thief caused about $500,000 in damages while pilfering metal to sell as scrap, the Winnipeg Police Service said Wednesday.

The thief damaged heating, ventilation and air conditioning units on at least 14 rooftops across the city — including in North Kildonan, West Broadway, St. Boniface and several other neighbourhoods — between Jan. 22 and March 9, police said. In the middle of the spree, on Feb. 6, police said the thief stole an SUV parked on Sherbrook Avenue to use during the thefts.

“It’s anything of value, whether it be aluminium, copper, whatever money they can get from these scrap yards, they’ll go for that, even if it’s nailed down, so to speak,” said police spokesman Const. Stephen Spencer.

He said he could not disclose the estimated value of the stolen scrap metal — but it was much, much less than the massive amount of damage caused.

“It certainly doesn’t come to the half-million dollars that the community had to, at some point, eat themselves,” said Spencer.

He said such thefts force businesses and organizations to take proactive measures, such as putting in new lighting or physical barriers around HVAC units, to prevent further damage.

“(It’s) even more money out of their pockets, even the ones that aren’t targeted yet, that have to look at preventing this,” said Spencer.

“Incidents like this can have a significant financial and emotional impact on businesses, multi-faith organizations and even the broader community.”

He urged members of the public to report any suspicious activity they see, such as people on rooftops seemingly doing work on HVAC units in the middle of the night, to the police.

“We really do rely on the public reporting suspicious activity, that can be very helpful,” said Spencer.

Spencer said he didn’t have numbers handy on thefts from HVAC units specifically, but stealing metal to sell as scrap is not anything new.

“In general, it’s not something we haven’t seen before,” he said, pointing to the city’s past problems with the thefts of catalytic converters, which contain precious metals, from parked vehicles.

Property crime investigators identified a suspect and soon learned he had gone to scrap yards around Winnipeg at least 28 times recently to sell allegedly stolen metal, police said.

RCMP officers arrested the suspect, Christopher Sawatzky, 35, on Monday in St. Andrews on an outstanding warrant and handed him over to Winnipeg property crime investigators.

He’s been charged with 12 counts each of theft over $5,000 and mischief over $5,000 and two counts each of theft under $5,000, mischief under $5,000 and possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000. He was also charged on a warrant for assault, uttering threats and a court order breach.

Sawatzky was held in custody.

Another thief looking for metal to sell as scrap damaged HVAC units at a church, a synagogue and three commercial buildings late last summer, causing about $90,000 in damage.

The suspect, arrested in late September, was charged with five counts of mischief over $5,000 and six counts of theft under $5,000.

And in early 2025, external air conditioners at the North End Women’s Centre were dismantled for parts and pieces, the non-profit’s executive director told the Free Press last May.

The social services organization put together a fundraiser at the time to pay for a plan to put in a fence around its Selkirk Avenue property try to address frequent vandalism.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca