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A pried open lockbox with a former senator’s last will and testament inside. Revolvers, pistols, carbines, .22 calibres, 12-gauge shots guns, plus Russian and French Civil War rifles haphazardly strewn about a southside home. The voice of a person of interest in a homicide ringing loud and clear on police wiretaps.
This is an inside look at how police solved an inside job at the late senator Rod Zimmer’s home, when his cache of 27 firearms was stolen by a former friend and employee bent on revenge.
Police received the call reporting a break and enter at 10 Bittern Ct., the former senator’s five-bedroom home in Rockcliffe Park, just before 1 a.m. on May 13, 2015. Both Zimmer and his young, headline-grabbing wife, Maygan Sensenberger, were out of town at the time.
Maygan Sensenberger, widow of former senator Rod Zimmer. LIAM RICHARDS / THE CANADIAN PRESS
Employee Andre Ethier made the phone call to police reporting that firearms, cash and personal belongings had been stolen and, what’s more, he named a suspect for them — Michael Laroque.
Larocque, then 34, had known Zimmer for nearly four years and, over that time, they had developed a friendship while Larocque worked as a handyman at the home. But things had taken a turn in the weeks before the gun heist.
Zimmer, concerned after finding that boxes in the basement of his home had been rifled through, sent Larocque a text alerting him to what had happened. Nothing had been stolen but Zimmer was incensed that someone had snooped through his personal things. And Larocque, affronted at what he took to be an accusation of prying into what wasn’t his, wasn’t happy.
“I’m going to rob that f—er,” Larocque told Ethier. “I have his wife wrapped around my finger.”
Ethier told their boss and Zimmer confronted Larocque by text message, telling him he was no longer welcome at Zimmer’s home. If Larocque ever returned, Ethier was to call the cops immediately. And so he did.
Around 10 p.m. on May 12, Larocque showed up to Ethier’s home and matter-of-factly said: “I’m going to rob Rod’s gun cabinet.” He asked Ethier if he could hide the guns in his backyard, expecting the man who would eventually turn him in would agree to be his accomplice.
When the job was done, Larocque gave Ethier a cigar. Ethier returned the favour by calling police to report the theft as soon as Larocque was gone.
Once they received the call, teams from both the break-and-enter squad and the guns and gangs unit began investigating, doing interviews and conducting surveillance on Larocque.
While police had been alerted to the theft by Ethier, the smoking gun in the case came as a result of an already authorized homicide wiretap, built on the evidence of multiple police informants.
Police had been investigating the February 2015 execution-style killing of 27-year-old Yusuf Ibrahim, a known gang member who went by the street name “Grinch.”
That investigation, called Project Grinch, was an extensive months-long probe. Police laid first-degree murder charges against two men that were ultimately withdrawn by the Crown in June of this year.
But back in May 2015, the role of Antonio Assaf, who was with Ibrahim the night of his killing, had been under police investigation. Assaf’s face had been plastered across newspapers in his Scarface leather jacket in surveillance images from both a taxi the night before the killing and outside the homicide scene the morning of.
This photo was among those released as police investigated the homicide of Yousef Ibrahim. PHOTO SUPPLIED / OTTAWA POLICE SERVICE
At the time, Assaf, now 19, had no idea police were recording his every phone conversation.
Homicide detectives intercepted conversations between Larocque and Assaf planning the heist and poring over the details of the purchase and sale of guns.
Armed with another suspect’s name, police began watching Assaf, too, and wrote warrants to search three homes on May 14 — Larocque’s on Russell Road, Assaf’s on Jessica Private and Assaf’s girlfriend’s across the river in Gatineau on Zenith.
The spoils had been split. At Larocque’s home, police found Zimmer’s will inside a forced open lockbox. At Assaf’s girlfriend’s home, they discovered a gold Grey Cup watch engraved with Rod Zimmer’s name on the back. And at Assaf’s home, police found all 27 guns, fur coats and jewelry belonging to Zimmer’s wife. Ten long guns were found in a freezer in the basement of the house, 12 others were found near the stairs to the basement. None was loaded.
Police promptly arrested Larocque, Assaf, Assaf’s father Omar and the mother of Larocque’s child, Tammy Lescard. All charges against Omar Assaf and Lescard were withdrawn by the Crown.
Larocque pleaded guilty in December 2015 to breaking and entering, stealing the firearms and conspiring with Assaf to carry out the plot. He also pleaded guilty to multiple unrelated fraud charges for a scheme in which he advertised repairs he didn’t perform.
He was sentenced to six years of penitentiary time.
Assaf pleaded guilty to illegal possession of 23 long guns and four hand guns, to possessing the same guns obtained by crime, and possessing Zimmer’s property on June 28 of this year. He was sentenced to 5 1/2 years.
Justice Ann Alder separately warned both men that the justice system knew exactly where the guns would’ve likely ended up — “in the hands of criminals.”
Zimmer died of natural causes at the beginning of June 2016 at the age of 73.
His widow, now 27, was sentenced for her own crimes in July 2015 — confronting police with a kitchen knife in each hand, kicking out the back window of a police cruiser and using a lit cigarette as a weapon. She was given a suspended sentence and probation. She’s now collecting Zimmer’s pension — $19,700 a year, for the rest of her life.
查看原文...
This is an inside look at how police solved an inside job at the late senator Rod Zimmer’s home, when his cache of 27 firearms was stolen by a former friend and employee bent on revenge.
Police received the call reporting a break and enter at 10 Bittern Ct., the former senator’s five-bedroom home in Rockcliffe Park, just before 1 a.m. on May 13, 2015. Both Zimmer and his young, headline-grabbing wife, Maygan Sensenberger, were out of town at the time.
Maygan Sensenberger, widow of former senator Rod Zimmer. LIAM RICHARDS / THE CANADIAN PRESS
Employee Andre Ethier made the phone call to police reporting that firearms, cash and personal belongings had been stolen and, what’s more, he named a suspect for them — Michael Laroque.
Larocque, then 34, had known Zimmer for nearly four years and, over that time, they had developed a friendship while Larocque worked as a handyman at the home. But things had taken a turn in the weeks before the gun heist.
Zimmer, concerned after finding that boxes in the basement of his home had been rifled through, sent Larocque a text alerting him to what had happened. Nothing had been stolen but Zimmer was incensed that someone had snooped through his personal things. And Larocque, affronted at what he took to be an accusation of prying into what wasn’t his, wasn’t happy.
“I’m going to rob that f—er,” Larocque told Ethier. “I have his wife wrapped around my finger.”
Ethier told their boss and Zimmer confronted Larocque by text message, telling him he was no longer welcome at Zimmer’s home. If Larocque ever returned, Ethier was to call the cops immediately. And so he did.
Around 10 p.m. on May 12, Larocque showed up to Ethier’s home and matter-of-factly said: “I’m going to rob Rod’s gun cabinet.” He asked Ethier if he could hide the guns in his backyard, expecting the man who would eventually turn him in would agree to be his accomplice.
When the job was done, Larocque gave Ethier a cigar. Ethier returned the favour by calling police to report the theft as soon as Larocque was gone.
Once they received the call, teams from both the break-and-enter squad and the guns and gangs unit began investigating, doing interviews and conducting surveillance on Larocque.
While police had been alerted to the theft by Ethier, the smoking gun in the case came as a result of an already authorized homicide wiretap, built on the evidence of multiple police informants.
Police had been investigating the February 2015 execution-style killing of 27-year-old Yusuf Ibrahim, a known gang member who went by the street name “Grinch.”
That investigation, called Project Grinch, was an extensive months-long probe. Police laid first-degree murder charges against two men that were ultimately withdrawn by the Crown in June of this year.
But back in May 2015, the role of Antonio Assaf, who was with Ibrahim the night of his killing, had been under police investigation. Assaf’s face had been plastered across newspapers in his Scarface leather jacket in surveillance images from both a taxi the night before the killing and outside the homicide scene the morning of.
This photo was among those released as police investigated the homicide of Yousef Ibrahim. PHOTO SUPPLIED / OTTAWA POLICE SERVICE
At the time, Assaf, now 19, had no idea police were recording his every phone conversation.
Homicide detectives intercepted conversations between Larocque and Assaf planning the heist and poring over the details of the purchase and sale of guns.
Armed with another suspect’s name, police began watching Assaf, too, and wrote warrants to search three homes on May 14 — Larocque’s on Russell Road, Assaf’s on Jessica Private and Assaf’s girlfriend’s across the river in Gatineau on Zenith.
The spoils had been split. At Larocque’s home, police found Zimmer’s will inside a forced open lockbox. At Assaf’s girlfriend’s home, they discovered a gold Grey Cup watch engraved with Rod Zimmer’s name on the back. And at Assaf’s home, police found all 27 guns, fur coats and jewelry belonging to Zimmer’s wife. Ten long guns were found in a freezer in the basement of the house, 12 others were found near the stairs to the basement. None was loaded.
Police promptly arrested Larocque, Assaf, Assaf’s father Omar and the mother of Larocque’s child, Tammy Lescard. All charges against Omar Assaf and Lescard were withdrawn by the Crown.
Larocque pleaded guilty in December 2015 to breaking and entering, stealing the firearms and conspiring with Assaf to carry out the plot. He also pleaded guilty to multiple unrelated fraud charges for a scheme in which he advertised repairs he didn’t perform.
He was sentenced to six years of penitentiary time.
Assaf pleaded guilty to illegal possession of 23 long guns and four hand guns, to possessing the same guns obtained by crime, and possessing Zimmer’s property on June 28 of this year. He was sentenced to 5 1/2 years.
Justice Ann Alder separately warned both men that the justice system knew exactly where the guns would’ve likely ended up — “in the hands of criminals.”
Zimmer died of natural causes at the beginning of June 2016 at the age of 73.
His widow, now 27, was sentenced for her own crimes in July 2015 — confronting police with a kitchen knife in each hand, kicking out the back window of a police cruiser and using a lit cigarette as a weapon. She was given a suspended sentence and probation. She’s now collecting Zimmer’s pension — $19,700 a year, for the rest of her life.
查看原文...
