Suspected booze bandit busted in dozens of LCBO thefts

Article content

A 56-year-old man faces 58 charges for allegedly stealing nearly $40,000 worth of booze from LCBO stores in Toronto on dozens of occasions.

Toronto Police say officers responded to a call for a theft at a liquor store in a plaza at The Queensway and High St. — just east of Park Lawn Rd. in south Etobicoke — around 2:20 p.m. on April 8.

Recommended Videos

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Try refreshing your browser, or
tap here to see other videos from our team.

Suspected booze bandit busted in dozens of LCBO thefts Back to video

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Try refreshing your browser, or
tap here to see other videos from our team.

Play Video

“It is alleged that a man entered the liquor store and selected an item,” Const. David Hopkinson said Thursday, adding the man then allegedly “left the store making no attempt to pay.”

Responding officers arrested the suspect, who was on site when an employee at the LCBO store called 911.

Investigators now allege the same man is responsible for a series of previous LCBO thefts.

“The thefts represent $38,300 in stolen products,” Hopkinson said.

Janusz Domagala, of Toronto, is charged with 56 counts of theft under $5,000, one count of failure to comply with a probation order and one count of failure to comply with a recognizance order.

The 56 LCBO store thefts he is accused of committing date back to Feb. 11, 2018.

Liquor store thefts have become increasingly problematic since January 2018 when the police service decided to stop physically responding to thefts under $5,000 unless the suspect is still on site or there is a risk to public safety.

Instead, such crimes are to be reported online and an officer is then assigned to investigate.

Over the last year or so there have been numerous reports of people filling bags with hundreds of dollars worth of liquor and simply walking out of LCBO stores.

When suspects are still on site, police have responded and made arrests.

But the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) — the union representing LCBO employees — claimed earlier this year that millions of dollars in booze had been stolen since police made such thefts their “lowest priority” and staff were ordered not to intervene when thefts occur.

Domagala is scheduled to appear in College Park court on Tuesday.

cdoucette@postmedia.com

On Twitter: @SunDoucette