Chronic car thief returns to city

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/12/2009 (5798 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A 17-year-old Winnipeg car thief accused of being involved in a deadly stolen Hummer crash was “banished” to Saskatchewan a year ago in an attempt to curb his criminal ways, the Free Press has learned.

The teen —- who can’t be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act — was arrested Wednesday night after allegedly being in the passenger seat during last Friday’s crash that killed 47-year-old Zdzislaw Andrzejczak. Police have laid several charges, including manslaughter, dangerous driving and breach of several court orders.

He was the subject of a unique sentencing hearing in December 2008, which ended with him being ordered to live in Yorkton, Sask., while on probation. Provincial court Judge Janice leMaistre applauded the “very creative” last-ditch effort to try to rehabilitate the chronic offender.

“This is your last chance,” leMaistre said to the boy at the time. “Get on that bus, get to Saskatchewan and start working on some of your problems.”

The plan allowed him to live in Yorkton with family and serve out a period of probation that doesn’t expire until early 2010. Crown attorney Liz Pats described the teen as one of the “top three or four” underage car thieves in Winnipeg’s auto-theft subculture. He has an extensive record for stealing cars, being caught in possession of stolen cars, dangerous driving and breaches of court orders.

He was due to be placed unsupervised on a Greyhound bus to Yorkton days after his court appearance. Upon arrival he was required to phone RCMP and report in.

“Is this going to work? I don’t know… we’ll see if he gets to the end of the line,” Pats told leMaistre.

Authorities hoped relocating the teen to Yorkton would remove him from the influence of his street gang.

“You will not have a future if you keep in contact with these people,” leMaistre told the boy. Sgt. Doug Safioles said at the time the move from Winnipeg is a relief to Winnipeggers and the officers in his stolen auto unit.

Justice sources told the Free Press on Thursday the teen made it to Saskatchewan — but didn’t end up staying very long.

The boy’s mother joined him out west but apparently had trouble finding a place to live with him and ultimately chose to bring her son back to Winnipeg. His probation order was changed to reflect his move back home.

As the Free Press revealed this week, the teen is a member of Winnipeg’s most prolific family of car thieves. He 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.

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 younger 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.

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 and left numerous senior citizens in tears by targeting cars in an underground parkade in North Kildonan in 2004.

www.mikeoncrime.com