Crime News

Canadian Crime News: : Sex Offences / Offenders

Canadian Sex Offenders Registry

Esgenoopetitj (Burnt Church) First Nation,New Brunswick,Sex Offender:sexual assault

2009 11 13

Under questioning by RCMP Officers, known Repeat Sex Offender Curtis Wayne Bonnell, 29, revealed the location of missing 16 year old Hilary Bonnell's body.

Police had been searching in the former military firing range in Tracadie-Sheila where the body was located.

The remains have been sent for additional testing and identification. An autopsy is scheduled to be performed in Saint John on Saturday.

Evidence discovered at the scene, including some clothing, also suggests the body is Hilary's.

Hilary, 16, was last seen on Sept. 5 walking along Highway 11 in Esgenoopetitj, commonly known as Burnt Church.

RCMP Insp. Roch Fortin mentioned Hilary's mother, Pam Fillier, who had given him a traditional "tobacco offering." It was that same day that there was a "major break" in the investigation that allowed police to recover Hilary, said Fortin, showing reporters the small, cloth sachet.

"The RCMP will continue to work diligently to discover what happened to Hilary," Fortin said.

"There's a lot of work still to be done for us to complete this investigation," he said, appealing to anyone with information to contact the RCMP or Crime Stoppers.

"We need to finish what we started. We need to have a successful prosecution.........We need to ensure the individual or individuals [responsible] are not roaming the streets anymore."

Curtis Bonnell , who is a cousin of the missing Hilary, had been released from Prison about 2 years ago after serving 5 years for a previous sexual assault.

He currently is being held in remand for another alleged sexual assault occuring at his residence last Saturday.

That residence and another property were the subject of a massive, intensive search the previous week.

Canadian Crime News :Sex Offence charges

Canadian sex offence charges registry

Esgenoopetitj (Burnt Church) First Nation,New Brunswick, Sex Offence charges:sexual assault

November 11th, 2009

Adam Huras

Telegraph-Journal,Saint John, New Brunswick

MIRAMICHI - A 29-year-old Esgenoopetitj First Nation man who was arrested at a home that was the focus of an extensive RCMP search last week was arraigned Tuesday on four charges related to a sexual assault on a 17-year-old girl.

Curtis Wayne Bonnell was ushered into court by three RCMP officers, hiding his face in his hat with his chin tucked tightly placed against a grey shirt before he sat down in the prisoner's box.

Canadian Crime News :Sex Offence charges

Canadian sex offence charges registry

Eskinuopitijk ( Burnt Church ) First Nation ,New Brunswick,Sex Offence charges:sexual assault

Monday, November 9, 2009

CBC News

Neguac RCMP have charged a man from the Eskinuopitijk First Nation in a sexual assault alleged to have occurred during the weekend at a house that police had been investigating last week.

The RCMP said in a statement that the alleged assault occurred Sunday at the First Nation, commonly known as Burnt Church, N.B.

The 29-year-old suspect, whose name has not been released, was arrested Monday and transferred to the Tracadie-Sheila RCMP detachment. He was to remain at the station in the Acadian peninsula until an appearance in Miramichi provincial court for a bail hearing. RCMP search house

It is the same house that police were investigating for several days last week in connection with a criminal investigation.

Police would not comment on the nature of that investigation or on evidence seized at the house, and would not connect the search to the disappearance of Hilary Bonnell, 16, who went missing from the northeastern community two months ago.

~~

The house in question is lived in by Christopher Bonnell and his 29 year old son, Curtis Bonnell.

Canadian Crime News: Atlantic:

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

CBC News

Police are searching a second property near where Hilary Bonnell went missing, but still won't say whether either search is connected to the case of the missing teen.

Hilary, 16, went missing two months ago, and was last seen on the morning of Sept. 5, walking along Highway 11 in Eskinuopitijk First Nation, commonly known as Burnt Church.

On Tuesday, more than a dozen police vehicles surrounded a home in Burnt Church, which CBC News sources say is owned by Hilary's uncle, Christopher Bonnell, who is also a band councillor.

On Wednesday, police extended the search to a second property in the neighbouring community of Tabusintac.

Police say the two properties are linked and both are connected to a criminal investigation, but won't say which one.

The home being searched on Tuesday is just two doors down from a convenience store where Hilary was last seen.

Canadian Crime News: Atlantic:

November 3, 2009

CBC News

More than a dozen police vehicles surrounded a home Tuesday on the Eskinuopitijk First Nation in northeastern New Brunswick, the same community where a 16-year-old girl went missing two months ago.

Hilary Bonnell was last seen in the morning on Sept. 5, walking along Highway 11 in Eskinuopitijk, commonly known as Burnt Church.

On Tuesday, 15 police vehicles, including a forensic identification vehicle, surrounded a home several metres away from where Bonnell was last seen. Sources told CBC News the home belongs to Christopher Bonnell, Hilary's uncle and a band councillor.

RCMP Insp. Roch Fortin said no one has been arrested and the Mounties had obtained a search warrant for the property "to investigate a Criminal Code violation."

He said it would likely be a lengthy investigation that could last several days or several weeks, and that officials had the co-operation of band council members.

A tent was pitched on the property and dozens of officers could be seen going in and out of the house wearing white forensic suits.

People in the community have been gathering in a convenience store parking lot two doors away from the house since early Tuesday afternoon. The girl's mother, Pamela Fillier, was among them and said she is still hoping to find her daughter alive.

Canadian Crime News: Atlantic

October 29, 2009

CBC News, New Brunswick

The mother of a missing 16-year-old girl from Eskinuopitijk First Nation is moving to a nearby community where she thinks her daughter disappeared.

Hilary Bonnell has not been seen since the morning of Sept. 5, when surveillance cameras showed her at a gas station on the main road past her community, commonly known as Burnt Church, in northeastern New Brunswick.

Pam Fillier, believes some people who live in nearby Riviere-du-Portage are connected to the disappearance of her daughter.

So Fillier and her husband are moving into a vacant family-owned trailer in that community on Monday to keep an eye on the people she suspects are involved.

"I'm moving in with you guys. I'm moving in. I'm coming. I'm going to be a resident of Portage River. They're gonna give me my daughter back," she said.

"I'm getting my little girl at all costs. At all costs. I'm getting my little girl."

Canadian Crime News: Atlantic:

Saturday October 31st, 2009

miramichi leader

ESGENOOPETITJ - Hilary Bonnell's aunt is looking for support in raising funds for her neice.

Erica Augustine is the project coordinator for the Aboriginal Health Human Resources Initiative (Nursing) at the University of New Brunswick.

Bonnell was not one to run away, Erica said, and there was no reason she would hide anything from her mother or family.

Also, Bonnell would rarely be without her cell phone, which has not been used since she went missing, with a text message to her cousin, Haylie Bonnell at about 8:20 a.m.

The message stated "I don't want to be here, I'm scared."

In attempts to help, Augustine and Barb Martin, also Hilary's aunt, have set up an account at the Bank of Montreal at 29 Dineen Dr., Fredericton.

The purpose of the account is to raise funds for billboards, measuring 10x20, intended to be distributed to all of the major cities across Canada for posting in places such as bus transit stops.

Augustine said any donation would be appreciated, regardless of the amount and cheques in a sealed envelope can be sent directly to her office at UNB Room 159, MacLaggan Hall, PO Box 4400, Fredericton, NB E3B 5A3.

The account information is as follows: Hilary Bonnell Funds, Bank of Montreal - UNB Campus, Transit number: 0249 and the account number is 8110-432.

Canadian Crime News: Atlantic:

October 28, 2009

CBC News

A northeastern New Brunswick mother thinks someone in a nearby community knows where her 16-year-old daughter is and she is confronting people for clues.

Pam Fillier, whose daughter Hilary Bonnell disappeared from Eskinuopitijk First Nation, commonly known as Burnt Church, on Sept. 5, said she plans to continue to pressure people until she finds her daughter.

One area that Fillier has targeted in her search for her daughter is the nearby community of Rivière-du-Portage.

Fillier said the people she believes are responsible for abducting her daughter have threatened her and told her to back off.

"To the people that have my daughter. I'm not a woman who will run home and cry. I'm not leaving," Fillier said on Tuesday.

"Like I said that night, give me what I want and I'll go away. Give me my daughter. I'll go away. Other than that, I'm here to stay. I'm not leaving until I get my daughter back and that is a promise."

Although Bonnell's family has not given up searching locally for the missing teenager, they are now raising money for a national billboard campaign to develop leads.

They're hoping that billboards set up outside the community will help widen that search.

Bonnell has dark eyes and black, shoulder-length hair. She is five feet five inches tall and weighs about 134 pounds. She was last seen wearing a purple T-shirt, a black sweater, jean shorts and sandals.

Canadian Crime News

October 27, 2009

By MARK BONOKOSKI

The Toronto Sun

ST. CATHARINES -- On Thanksgiving Monday, a techie showed up at the house of Patricia Marshall's next-door neighbour -- home of the now well-documented Peeping Tom, 19-year-old James William Cedar -- and hard-wired it with at least two night-vision cameras.

One points directly at the bedroom window of Marshall's 19-year-old daughter, Courtney. Another, wired to the Cedars' porch, has its aim towards the Marshall family's living room.

"If I felt like I was in a prison before the cameras went up, I feel more like being in prison now," says Marshall.

Back in February, Marshall, a single mother of two young daughters, had a wireless infrared camera installed in her own backyard, provided by a friend, after footprints were discovered in the snow by the bedroom windows of her home, as well as a face print on the glass of the main-floor bathroom window.

Within 24 hours of having that night-vision camera installed, a son of her next-door neighbour, identified in a police press release as James Cedar, was caught on tape peering into the windows, and masturbating.

A charge of criminal harassment laid by Niagara Regional Police that night, following seizure of the tape and a confession by James Cedar admitting to previous forays into the Marshalls' backyard, peeking though partially-closed blinds and then pleasuring himself, was quietly withdrawn months later by Niagara North senior Crown Wally Essert -- with no forewarning to the Marshalls or the police, and with no explanation offered to the court.

Canadian Crime News :Sex Offence charges

Canadian sex offence charges registry

St. Catharines, Ontario, Sex Offence charges:

October 25, 2009

By MARK BONOKOSKI, SUN MEDIA

The Toronto Sun

ST. CATHARINES -- Iit has been learned that lurker James William Cedar has peeped before.

Some six months prior to being caught on an infrared security camera, entering his next-door neighbours' backyard and then masturbating as he peered into various windows, Cedar was caught -- "on his knees" -- eye level to a low hole in the door of the staff change room at the Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet at St. Catharines' Linwell Plaza where he was working in the kitchen. Inside the room was a female high school student about to start her shift, and changing into her work clothes.

Canadian Crime News:National:

via The Vancouver Sun

Criminals will no longer receive a two-for-one credit for time served prior to sentencing, according to federal legislation that was given royal assent on Friday.

In the past, criminals could receive two days credit for each day they had spent in custody before sentencing.

But Bill C-25 will now make it a general rule that credit for time served be capped at a one-to-one ratio.

Canadian Crime News: Atlantic:

Saturday October 17th, 2009

Marty Klinkenberg

The Telegraph-Journal, Saint John, New Brunswick

With her husband at her side, Pamela Fillier sits at a table in a quiet corner of a restaurant in Neguac, rage, grief, misery and pain etched in her face.

It has been six weeks since her 16-year-old daughter, Hilary Bonnell, went missing, and since then Fillier has barely slept and has had no appetite for anything other than bringing her little girl home.

Fueled by a mother's anguish and adrenaline, she spends almost every moment searching, looking for clues into what happened on the morning of Sept. 5, when Hilary disappeared from the Burnt Church First Nation after sending a text message - "Oh my God, I am so scared, I want to leave-" to a friend.

Canadian Crime News: : Sex Offences / Offenders

Canadian Sex Offenders Registry

Sex Offenders:

CALGARY - Calgary police say a violent rapist on the loose is going down a dangerous path to reoffend "imminently" and may be on his way to British Columbia. Dean Robert Zimmerman is still at large after missing a curfew check at his home Wednesday morning.

Police are now working with British Columbia law enforcement because they believe Zimmerman, who once assaulted his pregnant spouse for two days, has ties to the West Coast.

He has entered into the beginning phases of his offence cycle and poses a significant risk to the public," said Const. Jason Bobrowich of the high-risk offender unit.

Canadian Crime News:National:

2009 10 07

YORKTON, Sask. A Saskatchewan man Kim Walker, was found guilty in January 2007, of second-degree murder in the death of his daughter’s drug-dealing boyfriend.

A Court of Queen’s Bench jury recommended the minimum sentence, life in prison with first eligibility for parole in 10 years, for Kim Walker in the death of James Hayward, 24, on March 17, 2003.

Justice Jennifer Pritchard accepted the recommendation.

Walker’s lawyer, Morris Bodnar, called for a mistrial in the case.

He told the court late Thursday that Pritchard had erred in her charge to the jury. He cited a unanimous Supreme Court decision from last October where the high court ruled a judge can’t take away a jury’s ability to acquit.

Pritchard initially suggested she could recharge the jury Friday and asked for Bodnar and Crown prosecutor Daryl Bode to submit any legal arguments dealing with the issue.

However, on Friday she chose to neither recharge the jury nor declare a mistrial.

Walker's defence was that he was a father of three at his wit's end, trying to free his then teenage daughter from the grips of Hayward, a convicted drug trafficker.

Before the jury began its deliberations, Justice Jennifer Pritchard told the eight women and four men they must not consider acquittal an option

Canadian Crime News :Sex Offence charges

TORONTO -- Add insult to injury. Within hours of Deputy Tory Leader Christine Elliott rising in Queen's Park to first question Attorney General Christopher Bentley on criminal harassment charges being withdrawn against a St. Catharines Peeping Tom --(James William Cedar ) caught on camera masturbating in his neighbours' backyard while peering into their windows, his confession in the cops' back pocket -- the victim received a threatening letter from the perp's lawyer.

Canadian Crime News:National:

2009 09 29

By Mike McIntyre

Winnipeg Free Press

via Mike On Crime

Two Winnipeg teens have pleaded guilty to plotting a shooting rampage inside three Winnipeg-area schools and a church.

The 17-year-old boy and his 18-year-old girlfriend - who can’t be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act because they were both youths at the time - admitted Tuesday to one count each of conspiracy to commit murder.

Canadian Crime News: Atlantic:

September 28th, 2009

By Lucas McInnis

The Miramichi Leader

ESGENOOPETITJ - The search of dozens of homes in the Esgenoopetitj area has helped police exponentially in the search for Hilary Bonnell and the timeline is being narrowed down.

Insp. Roch Fortin said in the past few days RCMP have searched many homes in the area commonly known as Burnt Church, with 23 homes being looked into Wednesday and about a dozen more Thursday.

"They're still working hard towards searching certain areas in and on the community of Burnt Church."

Bonnell has been missing since Sept. 5. The 16-year-old failed to come home following an all-night party.

Canadian Crime News: : Sex Offences / Offenders

Canadian Sex Offenders Registry

Vernon, British Columbia, Sex Offenders:sexual assault, child

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Lance Bernard says extradition delay violated convicted criminal's rights

The convicted sex offender Mounties tracked down in the U.S. to bring to court 30 years after a B.C. child was raped saw criminal charges against him stayed by the B.C. Supreme Court.

The ruling was made after court heard Wilbur James Ventling's Charter Rights were violated by a protracted extradition process to bring him before the Canadian justice system.

Ventling, 63, was set to stand trial this week before a jury for the rape of a nine-year-old Vernon girl in the late 1970s.

Canadian Crime News:National :

Police across Canada are looking for two men following a fatal shooting at a Brampton house party.

Devinder Singh Gill, 33, was killed in the early morning hours of September 11. Bullets flew around 4am at a home on Castlehill Drive.

Gurmit Singh Randhawa, 27, and Sawaran Singh Sekhon, 40, are both wanted for Second Degree Murder.

They are both considered armed and extremely dangerous.

Canadian Crime News:National :

Calgary Police are asking the public for help to locate a man wanted in connection in the 2006 homicide of a man.

Ryan Charles Michael Everett, 26, is wanted for one count of manslaughter in the death of 23-year-old Eric Regimbald.

Ryan Charles Michael Everett is described as:

- Caucasian

- 175 cm or 5' 9" tall

- 82 kg or 180 lbs.

- Tanned complexion

- Dark brown hair

- Brown eyes

- Medium build

Police say anyone who sees Everett should call 911 immediately and not approach him.

Anyone with information about Everett's whereabouts is asked to call police at 403-266-1234, Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.