Toronto murderer accused of fraud in Sarnia within days of shooting
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A Toronto man who was recently convicted of first-degree murder and attempted murder in a pair of Father’s Day 2022 shootings and sentenced to life in prison is accused of committing fraud in Sarnia and Lambton County within days of the killing.
Justin Harker, 23, is charged with defrauding George Bell of $5,000 by falsely identifying himself in St. Clair Township on June 17, 2022. He’s also charged with defrauding Edward Thompson in Sarnia on June 22, 2022, court records show.
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Around the same time, on June 19, 2022, Jaron Williams, 24, of Toronto, was pronounced dead after a shooting at Lotherton Pathway and Caledonia Road in North York. Toronto police said at the time four people were seen speeding away from the scene in a beige Chevrolet Equinox and they believed the killing was connected to another shooting 15 minutes earlier in the area of Allen Road and Eglinton Avenue.
On July 2, 2022, Harker and another Toronto man were both arrested in Montreal and charged with first-degree murder.
Six days later, Toronto and London police found evidence linked to the homicide while searching an address in London. A third Toronto man, Tafari Bezabeh, 19, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder on July 13, 2022.
A fourth suspect, a boy who was only 17 years old at the time of the killing, was arrested in April 2023 and also charged with first-degree murder.
Following a trial in Toronto involving only Harker and Bezabeh, a jury convicted both of them of first-degree murder in December and they were both sentenced in January to life in prison, according to the Toronto Star. They’re ineligible to apply for parole for at least 25 years.
Williams was going to see his dad on Father’s Day 2022 when a stolen car, driven by Harker, pulled up behind him. Three gunmen got out and shot him repeatedly until he died, the article says. It was a random retaliation for the killing of a close friend two days earlier. Harker and Bezabeh also were found guilty of attempted murder for the other shooting minutes earlier.
Superior Court Justice Michael Code said the pair of shootings involved a certain amount of professional preparation, including getting a stolen car and licence plates, bringing gunmen from outside the city, and hiding or destroying evidence after, the Star’s article says.
However, a spokesperson for Ontario’s Appeal Court confirmed Friday Harker is appealing. A notice of appeal, filed about three weeks after he was sentenced in late January, says he’s appealing both of the convictions and the life sentences. A date for the appeal hasn’t been picked yet.
In the meantime, Harker appeared Wednesday in a Sarnia courtroom by video link from the Collins Bay Institution in Kingston for an update on his Sarnia fraud charges. They were adjourned to Sept. 15.
Harker’s brother is listed as a co-accused in the Sarnia incident from June 2022. A Sarnia police spokesperson provided a rundown of that alleged fraud.
An 81-year-old resident was contacted by a person saying they were a lawyer and that their grandson had been in a car crash and needed $9,000. The senior, at the direction of the so-called lawyer, got the cash from the bank and told staff there it was for home renovations.
A courier showed up at the senior’s apartment and took the cash, but later called again saying a judge presiding over the case needed another $7,000. The same courier picked up the extra cash.
The next day, the senior was called a third time and told their grandson had rear-ended a pregnant woman on the way to court and they needed an additional $8,000. A different courier showed up and picked up the money.
“Who was later identified as Justin Harker,” Ivan Skinn, a Sarnia police staff sergeant, said via email. “Justin Harker was identified when he was arrested by Montreal police in relation to a homicide in Toronto. Specific descriptive information was used to identify him in the Sarnia fraud and a warrant was subsequently sought by Sarnia police.”
A Lambton OPP spokesperson didn’t respond by press time Friday to a request for information about the alleged incident in St. Clair Township.
-with files from the Toronto Sun and Toronto Star
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