A Winnipeg man is facing a whopping 130 mischief charges in connection with a spree of vehicle damage between December of last year and this month.
Police said they received dozens of similar damage reports, mainly in the Fort Garry and St. James areas during that period, in most cases involving windows being smashed in parked vehicles.
The suspect, 22, was taken into custody after new damage was done to parked vehicles in the King Edward neighbourhood on Sunday. With the help of the police helicopter, officers spotted the man driving in the area and arrested him at a traffic stop.
“Major crimes (unit) had entered into this investigation and they had identified a potential suspect,” Const. Dani McKinnon told 680 CJOB.
“Some previous witness information and whatnot had indicated someone had performed these acts of damage while driving by in a vehicle, so they knew that’s what they were looking for.
“Even though this person was very efficiently damaging the vehicles, it’s still going to take some time to slow down, cruise by all of these cars, do the damage, and drive off.”
Police said they believe the suspect acted alone and that the vehicles were chosen at random, as he didn’t know any of the victims.
“It’s often reported that a perpetrator will go down a back lane and smash out, say, five or six (windows) in a back lane. But you don’t typically hear about dozens happening week upon week, month upon month and all lined up,” McKinnon said.
“It was because of that unique pattern that major crimes became involved.”
He faces 130 mischief to property charges and was released on an undertaking.
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