Police charge suspect in Carling break-ins


Police charge suspect in Carling break-ins





Ottawa Police Services


Tony Caldwell / Postmedia

Ottawa police have arrested a suspect in connection with a string of Carling Avenue break-ins that have been going on all summer.

Jeffrey Parker, 47, of Ottawa, was arrested Wednesday night. He has been charged with mischief, breaking and entering, and possession of an instrument used for a break-in.

Business owners complain that break-and-enter thefts have been common on Carling Avenue all summer at varying hours of the day. The Woodpark, Carlingwood and McKellar Park neighbourhoods are hardest hit.

Some businesses have been hit more than once, like Speedy Auto Services near Carlingwood Mall, and the UniglassPlus/Ziebart near Broadview. Staff at these businesses say some of the incidents were during daylight hours.

Some nights, multiple businesses were broken into at once: On the night of Aug. 17 or the early morning of Aug. 18, Carling Flowers and the Tony and Chris Hair Studio — across the street from each other near Woodroffe — both had their front doors smashed.

Tony Thang, who runs the hair studio with his wife, said that the break-in was a major hardship and left him feeling anxious about the possibility of more break-ins.

“You can’t sleep at night … the fears of vandalism keep coming back,” he said in the days following the break-in.

Last weekend, Italian grocer Misto Fine Food Emporium and neighbouring Bayview Animal Hospital, near Kirkwood, were broken into around 4 a.m. on Sunday.

Parker was to appear in court Thursday.

Ottawa police said their investigation is ongoing.


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