The City of Laval was among six municipalities in Quebec and Ontario where police executed warrants and led concerted raids last week in order to arrest suspects in a fraud ring that targeted senior citizens.
In all, five people were taken into custody in the operation involving 22 warrants executed in Laval, Sherbrooke, Brossard, St-Lin-des-Laurentides, Sainte-Thérèse and Toronto.
According to police, the suspects made up to 140,000 phone calls to set up seniors for scams which finally became the subject of a police investigation beginning in November 2023.
Suspect from Laval among three arrested for alleged firearms trafficking
A suspect from Laval was one of three individuals arrested last week by the Montreal Police in conjunction with alleged firearms trafficking and illegal firearms possession.
The three, who are 18, 20 and 23 years of age respectively, were arraigned at the Palais de Justice in Montreal.
According to a statement issued by the Montreal Police, warrants were executed in Laval, the Montreal borough of Mercier-Hochelaga and in Saint-Colomban in the lower Laurentians.
Six handguns were confiscated, as were an unspecified amount of ammunition and other incriminating evidence, according to the Montreal Police.
Former Laval department manager guilty of raping sleeping woman
A former Laval city department manager was found guilty of sexual assault recently after failing to obtain the consent of a woman with whom he had just engaged in sexual activity, but who was unable to consent again after she fell asleep.
According to testimony rendered during the trial at the Palais de Justice de Laval, the two met through the online social media website Tinder.
Judge Serge Cimon ruled that Julien Leclerc, 39, who no longer works for the City of Laval’s tree maintenance division, failed to obtain the woman’s consent as she was asleep when Leclerc tried to have sex with her in the fall of 2022 as she slumbered at his home.
Although Leclerc and the woman, whose identity can’t be revealed, initially appeared to get along well, and she agreed to go to his home where she willingly had sex, she testified that when he tried a second time, she refused and he relented.
However, later in the evening, according to her testimony, he tried again. On awaking, she maintained, he was raping her because she didn’t give her consent.
She reported the incident to a friend who works with the Sûreté du Québec and later filed a formal criminal complaint. Leclerc hasn’t worked for the City of Laval since late 2022 after he resigned.
Recent Laval fire calls
Although it’s been empty for nearly a year following an arson attack, the remains of the Al Sultan Restaurant on Curé Labelle Blvd. in Chomedey went up in flames again on Oct. 4, with arson again suspected. The Laval Police have opened yet another investigation.
A few weeks earlier, on Saturday Sept. 28, a house in the upscale Île Roussin neighbourhood in Laval-sur-le-Lac also went up in flames, with Laval Fire Dept. firefighters calling in a code 10-13, signifying a third necessary alarm.
The Laval Police were called in to open an investigation as the LFD initially suspected arson. The home’s fire alarm system alerted 9-1-1. Upon arrival, LFD firefighters could see flames shooting out of windows on the first floor, although they also determined that no one was home.
Damage has been estimated at $500,000 on a residential building valued at $2,630,000, with an additional $300,000 in damages to property and materials inside the dwelling. Two firefighters sustained injuries which were relatively minor.
