#shopbreaking

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“Shopbreaker Jailed,” Border Cities Star. February 20, 1931. Page 06. ---- MONTREAL, Feb. 20. - Arrested on charges arising out of the same burglary for which Armand Desormeaux was sentenced to six years in St. Vincent de Paul Penitentiary last week, Leo Lafontaine was yesterday given a five-year sentence by Judge Marin. A third accused, Rene Lajoie, alias Houle, was sent to jail for 15 months.

Desormeaux, Lafontaine and Lajoie were convicted of breaking into a store and stealing $800 worth of cigars, cigarettes and tobacco.

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“Store Thieves Are Sentenced,” Border Cities Star. September 10, 1930. Page 14. ---- Youthful Burglars Plead Guilty, Draw Long Prison Terms ---- KITCHENER, Sept. 10. - Alcide Fontaine, 22, and Howard Trupp, 24, both of this city were sentenced here yesterday to ten years and seven years respectively in Portsmouth Penitentiary.

They pleaded guilty to seven charges of breaking and entering last week and in addition Fontaine was found guilty of shooting at an officer with intent to resist arrest.

Galt, Kitchener, Preston, and Elimra were the scenes of their depredations with two jewelry stores at Preston and the government liquor store at Elmira being the heaviest losers.

[AL: Fontaine, who was admitted on Sept. 15 as convict #1840, Fontaine worked in the shoe shop as a cutter. He had never been in a prison before, and this was his first offence. He was rather typical of first timers - not a troublemaker, and he did not join the riot in 1932 - and he claimed he had few complaints, except that his mother and some of his special mail for Christmas, were turned away the first year he was in the penitentiary. He was transferred to Collin’s Bay in mid-1934 and paroled in 1935. Trupp, convict #1839, was also a first timer to the penitentiary, and worked in the shoe repair section of the shoe shop. He had few personal problems, yet noticed the favoritism and lack of fairness in the dealings of guards with inmates. He was never allowed special letters, including ones to his mother, sister, and wife. He had been caught and reported for having a comb, which pissed him off - it made no sense, just as the smoking of officers was unfair. He was a supporter of the riot in 1932, and was transferred to Collin's Bay in late 1934, and released in 1936.]

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"YOUNG ROBBERS PLEAD GUILTY, ARE REMANDED," Winnipeg Tribune. July 3, 1934. Page 3. ---- Two Caught While Staging Raid on Beacon Radio Shop ---- Samuel Kroitberg and Russell Borowsky, two young robbers who were caught while staging a raid on the Beacon radio shop, 548 Main st., Sunday night, pleaded guilty to a charge of shopbreaking and theft when they appeared in city police court today. They were remanded until July 5 for sentence. They admitted stealing a quantity of radio supplies to the value of $25.

A third man was arrested, Monday, in connection with a burglary committed at the grocery store of Wallace L. Ashcroft, Wellington ave. and Garfield st. He was John Fasciano, brother of Joe Fasciano, who, with George R. Fisher, was taken into custody Saturday night for the same offence.

All three appeared in city police court today charged with shopbreaking and theft and were remanded until July 5 without plea.

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"TORONTO PRISONERS BREAK FROM GUELPH," Toronto Globe. July 20, 1922. Page 3. --- All Are Recaptured and Sentenced to Two Years in Penitentiary --- (Special Despatch to The Globe.) Guelph, July 19. - Pleading guilty before Magistrate Watt today to charges of breaking custody at the Ontario Reformatory, three young men - Cecil Fairbanks, George Twidale and George Moore were all sentenced to two years' imprisonment at Portsmouth Penitentiary, Kingston, and at the expiration of their sojourn in the "pen," to return to the "Farm" to complete their present terms.

The trio, who had only been at the Reformatory for a short time, made their dash for liberty on the morning of July 17, but after a few hours' freedom were captured by a posse of guards in a bush about a mile and a half away from the institution. Being newcomers at the Farm, they were all members of the quarry gang, and it was while they were on their way to the stone pile that they made a sudden dash along the railway tracks and disappeared into a nearby woods.

Fairbanks had been sentenced to the Reformatory for a term of two years less one day, for shopbreaking; Twidale was serving 12 months' certain, and an indeterminate term of 12 months, for forgery and false pretences, and Moore was under sentence for one year for motor car theft. All three prisoners were convicted at Toronto.

[Moore would be come back to Kingston several more times, in 1929 and 1932. He was 18 and convict #K-192, Twidale or Twisdale was 19 and #K-191, and Fairbanks was 21 and #K-193. Twisdale was returned to Guelph in August 1923, and the other two in May 1924]

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"MAN FACES CHARGES OF THEFT, RECEIVING," Toronto Star. November 5, 1934. Page 1. ---- Charged with theft and receiving in connection with the theft of $3,000 in clothing from R. Score and Sons Ltd., King St., on Feb. 9, Joseph Fromstein went on trial be-fore Judge Parker and a jury today.

Nathan Tusher testified that he had been paid $10 by the accused to take a quantity of goods from a lane behind the King St. store in a truck to a garage.

Witness admitted to J. J. Glass, defence counsel, that Fromstein had appeared as a witness against his father, David Tusher, convicted of receiving in connection with a silk robbery at the beginning of the year.

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"Three Men Charged With Shopbreaking," The Globe. April 29, 1935. Page 11. ---- Constable R. Weatherup of New Toronto Halts Speeding Truck - Pair Overalls Allegedly Stolen Found in Tarpaulin ---- A PAIR of child's overalls, a tarpaulin, and the efficiency of the New Toronto police force brought about the arrest yesterday morning of three members of what the police believe to be an extensively organized shopbreaking gang.

Trio Under Arrest. Those under arrest are: Paul Nastowny, Birchmount Road, Scarboro'; Frank Smokeler, 156 Lippincott Street, Toronto; and George Lawrence, 7 Virtue Street, Toronto, and the three are charged with breaking into the whole-sale drygoods store of H. S. Peters of Welland.

The New Toronto police officer was asked to be on the lookout for a truck containing a large quantity of overalls and men's wear, the only description given being that it was green and had gold lettering on the side, Constable Robert Weatherup, while checking doors, and watching the highway, noticed the truck travelling at an excessive rate of speed and attempted to stop it. Instead, Nastowny, the driver. swerved, narrowly missing him. Accommodated by a passing motorist, Weatherup gave chase, overhauling the truck at Hillside Avenue, Mimico.

Nostowny claimed that his two accomplices were transients whom he had picked up at Burlington, while he was supposedly making a return trip from Fort Erie.

Truck Searched. At the police station Weatherup was satisfied from questioning that all three were close associates. The identity of the truck was not revealed until a large tarpaulin could be removed from the sides and the entire loot appeared to have been discarded en route. However, P.C. McBurney searched the truck a second, and discovered a suit of overalls, bearing the company's name, embedded in a corner of the tarpaulin.

Welland police were notified, and three officers, under Sergeant C. Anderson, removed the trio to Welland Jail. The truck, originally rented by M. Korteff, 471 Richmond Street, Toronto, was traced to the Hertz garage. An additional charge of reckless driving will be laid against Nastowny.

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"SHOPBREAKER GETS TWO YEARS IN PENITENTIARY," Winnipeg Tribune. July 11, 1933. Page 3. --- A two-year penitentiary term was imposed on George Kelln when he pleaded guilty, in city police court today, to bring into tailor shop at suite 5, Campbell block, and stealing suits and over-coats to the value of $177. This term will run concurrently with a two-year sentence given him in county court, Monday, when he was convicted of two other shopbreaking charges.

Edmond Nolan, charged jointly with Kelln in connection with the tailor shop burglary, pleaded not guilty and asked for a jury trial. He was given a preliminary hearing and committed for trial.

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"Gerard Lemieux Given Full Reformatory Term," Ottawa Journal. June 29, 1934. Page 2. --- His youth saved Gerard Lemieux, 20, of Montreal, from a penitentiary term, Magistrate Glenn E. Strike pointed out today as he sentenced the self-confessed shopbreaker to the maximum term in Guelph reformatory, two years definite and two d years indeterminate.

Lemieux pleaded guilty on two charges of breaking into the store of Max Feller, Limited, 156 Rideau street, and of breaking into the premises of the Ottawa Drug Company, 457 Sussex street, and stealing $336 worth of narcotic drugs.

Detective Ernest Sabourin, who caught Lemieux in the act of breaking into Feller's store, and connected him with the drug company robbery, told the court that Lemieux had directed him to caches where all the stolen drugs had been located.