Thieves metered parking culprits

Claudia Berthiaume

Thursday, 29 march 2018 11:37

UPDATE
Friday, march 30, 2018 00:16

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Betrayed by their “unique signature” of not stealing the coins of $ 2, three ex-blue-collar workers of the City of Montreal were found guilty of stealing nearly $ 300,000 in parking meters.

For judge Pierre E. Labelle, there is no doubt that large sums of money have been stolen in the terminals parking in montreal between February 2012 and January 2013.

Photo Chantal Poirier and courtesy VAT New

What has betrayed the co-accused, Jocelyn Joseph Lefebvre, 50 years, Richard Bellavance, 56 years old, and Jean-Michel Songue, 33 years old, this is their way to make ” unique “.

The three employees of Stationnement de Montréal is not concealed, usually for parts that have the most value when they emptied the vaults of their contents.

So it was clear to the magistrate that human manipulation had taken place, and that it was not an error in the counting of the currency.

The co-accused have all been convicted of multiple charges of theft yesterday, at the palais de justice of Montreal.

Lack of security

The accused Songue and Bellavance have also been convicted of possession of property obtained by crime and possession of tools of burglary, namely a spanner counterfeit used to open the safes of the terminal parking.

In giving his judgment, the judge Labelle, however, has not been kind to the directors of Stationnement de Montréal.

He pointed out several gaps in the security of the public body, in relation to both the collection of the money that the accessibility of the valuable keys giving access to the parking meters.

“We’re definitely far from the perfect system touted by Stationnement de Montréal. […] There is a laxity that we do not expect to see a public company that manages several million dollars “, has dropped out of the magistrate.

In 2016, Stationnement de Montréal has awarded 53.4 million $ to the City of Montreal, according to a press release published on its web site.

“It took the accused greedy and hungry to show the flaws in the system “, a summary of the judge Labelle.

Verdict on appeal

After the hearing, Jean-Michel Songue has claimed to the media that he would bring the verdict on appeal, saying the victim of a conspiracy on the part of Stationnement de Montréal.

“I think that evidence have been modified. Is it that it was done ? No, it has not done so ! […] Me, I think now that I am a victim “, he said.

The three co-defendants, who defended themselves only, may now be the prison, said the judge Labelle, strongly suggesting to consult a lawyer for further procedures.