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00:00On this edition of The Fifth Estate...
00:07A violent criminal network responsible for home invasions and robberies.
00:13Brazen attacks often in broad daylight.
00:16Many of the suspects are just kids.
00:19We've got very young persons committing very violent crimes.
00:22Smash and grabs, they're on the rise and videos like these have gone viral.
00:27But who or what's behind it?
00:29He was approached by somebody who told him that he wanted to see young teens make money and flourish.
00:38They are walking, bags in their hands, and they know we're here.
00:43We get extraordinary access inside a police takedown.
00:47This is another potential break in the case.
00:49He pointed the gun directly at her.
00:52This trauma will stay with them forever.
00:55But what's happening to these offenders once they're caught?
00:58They can keep doing it and get away with it. What's to stop them?
01:02We're strengthening the criminal code to get tough on bail.
01:06We need to be invested in OU's future.
01:08Do you think the answer is to lock kids up?
01:11For those that are committing absolute violent crime, they have to be held to account.
01:15I'm Ioana Rumoliotis. This is The Fifth Estate.
01:185-1-6-2-4-Q.
01:32It's taken weeks to get to this moment.
01:39Officers with the York Regional Police Holdup Unit from north of Toronto are ready and moving in.
01:45So we're going to load up into our vehicles, into our location.
01:51Let's go.
01:53So we're heading down to the east end of Toronto to execute a search warrant.
01:59Detective Sergeant Ryan Boulay and his team are on their way to what they believe is a flop house connected to a series of violent robberies.
02:07They don't know what they'll find.
02:09We're here.
02:11This access is rare.
02:13We usually report on police operations after they happen.
02:17This time, we're about to see one unfold.
02:20The team just went into the building.
02:23They're likely at the door now, I would assume, and they're about to execute the warrant.
02:28They're hoping this is a break in the case that will finally ease weeks of torment for victims.
02:34The GoPro we don't need now, right?
02:37Once on site, things move fast.
02:41So the occupant in the residence is now under arrest.
02:45They've located jewelry within the unit.
02:47Wow.
02:48You think jewelry connected to any of the robberies that you're investigating?
02:51It potentially is.
02:52We spent a week in July with the team.
02:55It's one of the police units at the epicenter of a shocking wave of smashing grabs in Ontario.
03:01On this day, officers found more than jewelry.
03:05So we found one of our outstanding suspects that was actually in the apartment.
03:09That was unanticipated, but obviously good for us.
03:12We found a balaclava, which these guys normally wear to cover their face and their head.
03:16A mound of potential evidence that could unravel a dangerous criminal network.
03:21Hammers that they obviously run into the store with.
03:24Splash the displacement.
03:26This one's a replica, but obviously looks very real.
03:29Jewelry item here from people's jewelry.
03:31Shattered glass, obviously, from display cases as well.
03:34Thieves hit not one but two stores at a mall in Mississauga last night.
03:38It's happening across the country, but the Greater Toronto Area has been pummeled the hardest by a surge of these violent robberies.
03:45Good evening, the police pursuit spilled out onto the streets in Markham.
03:49Stunned shoppers watching as the dramatic scene unfolded.
03:53Groups of young people brazenly smashing through glass, taking what they can grab as fast as they can.
04:02Causing serious damage in only seconds.
04:05Leaving jewelers on edge and preparing for the worst.
04:09I was just working on my bench on a ring and suddenly I noticed three guys just walked in.
04:16And as soon as I saw their face was mask and hoodie.
04:20A year ago, three males stormed Jerry Cerani's Markham store with hammers and bags.
04:26I just grabbed the broomstick I had here, grabbed it just right away, tried to chase them out.
04:32So I turned around from here.
04:34The two guys in the back, as soon as they saw me going for them, they just ran away.
04:39And one guy stayed in the back here.
04:42Just when I hit him, he turned around, I hit him, I got him in the face.
04:46And with that, he shook him up a little bit.
04:49Cerani posted this viral video three months later after seeing this bolt attack in the same mall.
04:56The beginning was not my intention at all to even to release it.
04:59The only reason I did it, because it was happening way too many times.
05:04And nobody was paying any attention.
05:06The video and his broomstick got the attention he and his colleague Joe Kasap wanted.
05:11I think it brought a lot of people to realize, oh, it's not just only one or two locations.
05:16It's happening almost everywhere.
05:18It's been like, what, almost three years that it keeps going on like this.
05:22It's like, it's not stopping.
05:24The overall crime rate across the country has been fairly stable for the last decade.
05:30But rates of violent crime have been inching up.
05:33Crime rate statistics for 2025 are not out yet.
05:37But we compiled data from police and news reports and found there have been at least 60 jewelry store robberies in Ontario just this year.
05:45In York Region alone, the number of jewelry store robberies doubled last year and is set to surpass that amount by the end of 2025.
05:54Now we're expecting it, right?
05:56So we've mentally prepared for it.
05:58Prepared because suspects didn't target them once.
06:01A month later, it happened again.
06:04It looked like same gang almost.
06:07Young kids with masks, with hoodies and knapsacks and hammers.
06:11They just walked in again and we just replaced the glass and they tried to break it in again.
06:16I just said, OK, no, that's not going to happen.
06:19Just, just interfered and chased them away.
06:22He chased them away that time, but not for long.
06:25And then it happened again after that, in June?
06:28Or there was another...
06:29Yeah, recently.
06:30That's when that made us to actually lock the door.
06:32And then they still tried to come in?
06:34Yes.
06:35Unfortunately, a few months ago, the five guys rushed in.
06:38Again, he was here at the time.
06:40And they shook the door and they could not go through.
06:44They just left, ran away.
06:46It was the third attempt in a year.
06:50Beyond Surani and Kassat, few jewelers would agree to talk to us for this story,
06:55for fear of making themselves a target and spooking customers.
06:59In fact, the chains in malls with wide open storefronts are often a target.
07:03But they never got back to us.
07:05You see, the crime is getting bigger and bigger.
07:07Getting more violent.
07:09So, something has to happen.
07:11Something has to change.
07:13The smash and grab was, like, really starting to spike here in October, November,
07:17and December of 2024 and into January, February of 2025.
07:22I think it's starting to spread.
07:25Scott Hayes is a former RCMP investigator.
07:28He works as a security advisor for Jewelers Vigilance Canada.
07:32The organization works to prevent crime in the industry.
07:35So, Jewelry store robberies aren't new.
07:38But what I think is new in the last couple years is the, how violent and brazen it's becoming,
07:46the amount of people involved.
07:47And as the public reports are from the police,
07:51the amount of young offenders that are being corralled into committing this sort of crime.
07:56One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.
07:58Hayes says he's also seen the number of suspects working together going up.
08:03I found that you'd start with two or three people going into a store.
08:07Then five, six, seven, eight.
08:09Then really swarms of people, for lack of a better term,
08:13swarming the place and then being out in maybe less than a minute, 90 seconds.
08:18Very quick.
08:19And speed is your friend when you're a criminal.
08:22What happens to the stolen goods?
08:24I mean, there's a lot of people who collect gold, melt it down and sell it.
08:27That's not uncommon.
08:29The jewelry itself, though, it's going to get resold.
08:32It'll end up back in another ring, end up in a necklace.
08:35It gets put into other jewelry and then resold.
08:37So most of this jewelry ends up back on the legitimate market.
08:41More and more cases, we're seeing that a lot of the offenders are young offenders.
08:49We first met with Detective Sergeant Boulay four days before the takedown we showed you earlier.
08:56At this point, their only lead is a stolen Honda Accord.
09:01We're trying to identify persons of interest, addresses of interest, unique pieces of clothing,
09:09anything that's going to help progress our investigation to solve any of the crimes that have happened up to today
09:15that we know of relating to that vehicle or that crew of suspects.
09:20Police say the Honda they're watching has a stolen license plate that could be connected to a series of robberies.
09:27And they're operating as a team out there to run physical surveillance on suspects, on door suspect vehicle.
09:3222-9, you got a release.
09:37Negative.
09:42Is that your team?
09:43Yep.
09:44How long have they been watching?
09:47This car was located this morning and they've been out there ever since.
09:52We believe that the crew associated to this vehicle has been involved in at least 10 jewelry store robberies,
09:59as well as a couple of home invasions and multiple theft of license plate occurrences.
10:06Are we almost there?
10:07Yeah.
10:08We're just going to pull up to a parking lot here and we're just going to meet one of the investigators
10:12that's been on the surveillance detail today.
10:16This is Detective Kevin Smith.
10:18He's in charge of the surveillance team.
10:21So we have the vehicle, the primary vehicle that we located this morning.
10:25So that vehicle was stolen out of another jurisdiction and then used in a series of crimes.
10:30It's almost like a big spider web and that's where our crime analyst comes and plays such an integral part of the investigation.
10:37They're in the background trying to piece together, you know,
10:40this car was related to this incident and this car was related to this incident.
10:44Police say the robberies come in waves and they're in the middle of one.
10:48How often do these smash-and-grabs happen on average?
10:52We see recently anywhere from two to four per week.
10:56That's just in York Region.
10:57And these crews are likely active outside of York Region.
11:01It's a lot.
11:02It's certainly a lot more than I think we've seen over the last number of years.
11:06The work can be tedious and time-consuming.
11:09Someone else having their sex.
11:11I'll be against a cut where we put more time on this day.
11:17Good to come on.
11:19It's time to head back to the station to figure out the next move.
11:24Hi guys, this is the CBC team that's doing the documentary.
11:30Hello. Hi.
11:31These are the investigators that were set up on the road today doing the surveillance.
11:35To get to this point, we had to undergo background checks and agree to not disclose some investigative techniques police use to track suspects.
11:45So I think the big success from today was locating that vehicle.
11:49And how critical is a car like that to the investigation?
11:52I mean, right now it's basically the only lead that we have to go off of because we don't have any leads on the offenders at this point.
11:59So we're hoping that the car leads us to the offenders.
12:02Coming up.
12:03And then my little one said they put a gun on our head.
12:07As a mom, I felt like my jaw fell to the floor.
12:15We're back at York Police Headquarters in Aurora, 50 kilometres north of downtown Toronto.
12:25The Honda police have been watching hasn't budged.
12:28Were you expecting anything to happen or is that typical?
12:31You know what?
12:32Last night was kind of a crapshoot.
12:34We didn't know if anything was going to go on.
12:36So the teams were ready and it was uneventful.
12:39So it was good.
12:40Everyone got some rest.
12:41I guess that's the upside.
12:42You never really know what's going to happen.
12:44The teams are just ready to go.
12:46They're waiting by the phone and we're just going to step in here.
12:50So the two teams are in here now.
12:53The morning team is handing over to the afternoon team and the investigation is getting wider.
12:59It turns out there are now two cars under surveillance.
13:03So this is in relation to the Accord and Lexus and the retail series including some home evasions that we'll get into as well.
13:11The biggest takeaway from yesterday was we did some video canvassing.
13:16Yeah and I think the video today would have linked the Toronto home invasion to ours once we took a look at the clothing.
13:23Police say the Lexus was stolen during a home invasion linked to the jewelry store robberies.
13:28This crew was last active on the 2nd of July when they were out in the Halton region.
13:35They did a Michael Hill jewelry store and they utilized the Lexus that's involved in the series.
13:40Listening closely, crime analyst Jill Elliott.
13:44So if you see the purple, those are all jewelry store robberies.
13:48All these purple ones have the black Honda Accord and all of it.
13:53Elliott started looking at license plates involved in the series of crimes and made a breakthrough discovery.
13:59What I've been noticing is that recently the plates that they're attaching onto it are being stolen out of Toronto.
14:09And the plates that they're originally attached to are grey or black Honda Civics.
14:14Because they've been changing up these stolen plates every time a robbery has happened.
14:19So they're putting a plate from a similar vehicle on the stolen vehicle?
14:22Yeah.
14:23Okay.
14:24Elliott's work helped police map out 11 jewelry store robberies in this series.
14:29Spanning from the west in Stratford, north to Collingwood and east to Oshawa.
14:34Both in malls and street front shops.
14:37How do you suspect that the same vehicle is being used in all these different crimes if the plates don't necessarily match?
14:45The suspect car is parked right out front of the entrance of the jewelry store.
14:49So the car is left running with a driver and there's great cameras in malls.
14:54So they get that, they get that plate.
14:57We run the plate.
14:58It's not supposed to be attached to this black Honda Accord.
15:01Actually we see a report that the homeowner said that they got their plate stolen two days prior to this incident.
15:08So my guess was, you know what?
15:09I bet they're going to dump that plate and they're going to steal another plate.
15:12And so then it kind of just exploded out of there.
15:15These guys kept using hammers to break into jewelry stores.
15:18And then it started linking and I started seeing this clothing on home invasions.
15:22Before long, police were able to link three home invasions to the series of robberies.
15:28Two in Toronto, one in Markham.
15:31It's becoming what Detective Sergeant Boulet said.
15:34It's a spider web.
15:35It's getting linked everywhere.
15:37Taking down suspects of home invasions is a big part of the holdup unit's work.
15:44And the crimes can be the most traumatic for victims.
15:51Hello.
15:54There's people robbing our house right now.
15:57There's people in the house.
15:58They have guns and they took the car keys.
16:01Please.
16:02We were sleeping in bed here.
16:05My sister first heard the noise and then she woke me up.
16:13It's been a year since a family's worst nightmare came true.
16:17In Richmond Hill, north of Toronto, masked intruders tried to get in through the front door.
16:22When that didn't work, they used a rock to smash through the back.
16:26At first I thought it was my parents.
16:29They had come home from their night out, but I wasn't sure.
16:36It felt like such a blur to me.
16:39This family agreed to share their story but asked us not to show their daughter's faces for their safety.
16:46The oldest is now 25.
16:48She called her parents.
16:50Her father Krish knew something was very wrong.
16:53Around 1.30 in the night, we got a call from our older daughter.
16:57And the call came and then it got disconnected.
16:59And then we started calling them pretty frantically, like trying to reach them.
17:04And then they were not picking up.
17:06I didn't have enough time to get my glasses.
17:10So I couldn't see very well.
17:12And when we came here to look down, that's when they stormed up the stairs and they saw that I had the phone.
17:23They snatched it out of my hands.
17:26And then they started yelling at us and pointing guns at us and then they hurted us both through here.
17:36The intruders demanded the keys to the family's Lamborghini parked in the driveway.
17:42They kept saying, like, where's the car?
17:45Where are the car keys?
17:46Give us the car keys.
17:47And I tapped one of them and I said, please, like, we don't have the car keys.
17:53The youngest daughter is now just 14.
17:56One of the guys, he ran into my parents' room and he started rummaging through our dresser and all the drawers.
18:09And then he found the key.
18:12I started screaming and crying.
18:15And then the third guy, he got really angry.
18:19So he took out his gun and he pointed it at me and was like, be quiet, shut up.
18:25And then they all started running down the steps.
18:31The way my sister was crying and screaming, that's something I can never forget.
18:49I don't think I can describe it in any way how scared I felt, how terrified I was.
18:58A police officer called their parents who were already racing home.
19:02The whole ordeal lasted 15 minutes.
19:05Their mom Lopa says it still feels like a lifetime.
19:08She was crying that our car is gone.
19:12I said, that's okay.
19:14We can get another car.
19:16Don't worry about it.
19:17That's when she mentioned they had a gun on our head.
19:21I just didn't know how to react.
19:23I don't know how my, these two kids, they handled the whole thing.
19:28It was probably one of the worst 15 minutes so far in my life and our life.
19:34My family has completely changed within those 15 minutes.
19:39We are still struggling.
19:41This trauma will stay with them forever and us as well.
19:46So this is just a series of photos that our forensic officers captured when they were on the scene.
19:52While their case is not connected to the jewelry store robberies we've been following,
19:56it does fall under York Police's holdup unit.
19:59Detective Smith responded to the call that night.
20:02So you can see there's still a portion of the glass that's intact at the top.
20:06The suspects thought they had gotten away.
20:10But what they didn't know is the family had hidden an air tag in the SUV.
20:15We were fortunately able to track the vehicle down.
20:18It was with a secondary vehicle that was involved in a home invasion in a different jurisdiction from a few days earlier.
20:24Yeah, that's the arrest.
20:27They were uncapping them.
20:30Krish followed police to the scene.
20:33That must have been something for you to see, eh, Krish?
20:35What was going through your mind when you saw that?
20:37Well, at least I see that they were able to catch them.
20:42They were able to find them and arrest them.
20:45A 19-year-old man and a 16-year-old later pleaded guilty to armed robbery.
20:51The adult also pleaded guilty to use of an imitation firearm.
20:55But a third suspect got away.
20:57Was the vehicle damaged?
20:59It was, yeah.
21:02Because the police kind of surrounded them during the arrest?
21:06Correct in that.
21:07There was an attempt to flee.
21:10Sure they had a high-end vehicle but they obtained that high-end vehicle by legitimate means
21:14through hard work.
21:15They should be able to enjoy that property without fear of people entering their house in the middle of the night
21:19and holding their family at gunpoint to obtain it.
21:22Since then, the family has taken extreme precautions.
21:25Installing panic buttons, a motion-detecting system and these.
21:31These are aluminium shutters.
21:37This stays down.
21:38Nobody can break into my house anymore.
21:40Can you imagine, as a family, we keep all the doors and the windows shut all the time with the rollers.
21:50No lights.
21:53That's not how you're supposed to live.
21:55That's not how the kids are supposed to be brought up.
21:59Like that, that makes me feel bad more than anything else, right?
22:04I mean, that's not what we came here for.
22:07That's not what we thought this country would be.
22:10And it's a constant reminder to me that this happened.
22:16Ahead.
22:17You know, we've never seen the prevalence of young persons committing crimes at these levels, ever.
22:23I think that my son heard the treasure that awaited him and kind of got baited with that.
22:32Thank you and good morning, everyone.
22:48Project Night Train is another takedown of a violent criminal network responsible for home invasions and robberies.
22:57Over in neighbouring Peel region, the alarming jump in jewelry store robberies and home invasions prompted police to create a task force called Project Night Train.
23:06Police announced the results of the crackdown this past July.
23:10We have identified 13 individuals responsible for these crimes.
23:14We met with Inspector Sean Brennan and the team behind Project Night Train in Mississauga.
23:23They gave us a behind-the-scenes breakdown of the investigation.
23:26Many of the suspects, they say, are just kids.
23:29You know, we've never seen the prevalence of young persons committing crimes at these levels, ever.
23:35It's disturbing when, you know, we're talking a three-year average here in central robbery for the region of Peel
23:41and 40% of our offenders are young persons.
23:44Escalation of violence is the worst we've seen in this office by far.
23:47And over property and stuff, too.
23:49You are scarring these people for life.
23:52So six of the 13 arrested being young people.
23:56It's not just a problem that we're having.
23:58Case-specific for us, it's kind of a trend region-wide, GTA-wide.
24:02Something we're trying to obviously get ahead of, figuring out the recruitment process.
24:07What's emerging, police say, is minors being approached by adults.
24:12Is there a master who's kind of controlling the show, or how is this happening?
24:17It seems like there's a network on social media.
24:20It's usually young people at risk are met by somebody who we would call the organizer.
24:26They get to exchange phone numbers.
24:28They create these group chats.
24:30And when they're ready to go do, identify a target, they'll put it out on the group chat
24:35to who's up to doing them, the commission.
24:37They'll organize a spot to meet.
24:39So in essence, these people, the offenders getting together, may have never met each other before.
24:44Nine?
24:45I think there's nine of them.
24:46Breaking the glass in the middle of the day.
24:48Yep.
24:49Detective Justin Schoenaker shows us one of the most dramatic robberies Project Night Train investigated.
24:54He says the lack of connection between suspects makes identifying them even more of a challenge,
25:00especially because they move so fast.
25:03Now they're coming outside.
25:04As you can see, they're all holding bags, reusable shopping bags full of the stolen jewelry.
25:10What do you think when you see them start smashing away at the display cases?
25:15It's so disappointing.
25:16Like, it really is.
25:18This woman says her 16-year-old son is accused of taking part in multiple smashing
25:23grabs.
25:24I just don't think that he sees the severity of his charges.
25:33She's speaking exclusively to the Fifth Estate.
25:36As a minor in custody, the law does not allow her son to be named.
25:40And we cannot show you who she is in order to protect his identity.
25:44Do you have an idea of who was behind it?
25:46The police told me that there was a group of adults that were recruiting them.
25:52I don't know where they're meeting them.
25:55I don't know, like, I don't know if they're, you know, hanging out at like spots teenagers do.
26:04Is it at the mall?
26:05Like, I have no idea.
26:06What were these adults telling him and his friends?
26:11He said that he was approached by somebody who told him that he wanted to see, like, young teens make money and flourish.
26:23And he was like, this guy just wants us to, he wants to see us do better because, you know, there's not a lot of options for us.
26:32I told him that it sounded very predatory.
26:36He was told that, you know, they have insurance, right?
26:40So, like, it's a victimless crime.
26:43She says her son was promised money, at least $2,000, and told as a minor he would get off easy.
26:52The messaging, I guess, that he was told was that if he's under 18, he's a young offender.
27:01And if you're a young offender, then it just goes away once you become an adult.
27:05So none of it matters.
27:08Over in York Region, police are about to catch a break.
27:12All right, you take care. Okay, bye-bye.
27:15It's been a busy night here after news that Toronto police arrested three minors.
27:21I believe they were arrested for a shoplifting incident in Toronto.
27:25And through that arrest, our investigators became engaged.
27:29There was information that led us to believe that those offenders were likely related to our robbery series that we've been investigating this week.
27:37Since then, one of the investigators typed through the evening and was able to get a search warrant granted through a Justice of the Peace.
27:44So that search warrant allows us to go to a residence, that residence is in Toronto, and we're going to execute the search warrant.
27:50Three suspects come up with hammers.
27:52Wow.
27:53To help make the case for that search warrant, Detective Constable Matt Milroy says he poured over security camera footage, tying the suspects to one of the stolen vehicles police had been watching.
28:04They parked it near an apartment building in Toronto.
28:07From that video, we observed our suspects getting into a taxi.
28:11We were able to identify the taxi company, and then through the taxi company, found the trip records of where those suspects were driven to, which was an address in Toronto.
28:23So then we go to get video from that apartment building.
28:26So the video here is the taxi arriving with our suspects.
28:30That's them exiting?
28:31That's them exiting, and then they're going to enter the building.
28:35What do you expect to find or hope to find?
28:37So we're hoping to find evidence of the offence.
28:39So we're looking for clothing, any types of weapons, tools that may have used in the robberies, items that may have been taken during the robberies.
28:48Moments after officers arrived on the scene, another unexpected lead.
28:53We were told to hang back until they got inside.
28:56So this is the unit here that the investigators are in.
28:59The door's just cracked open.
29:00It sounds like they're explaining a few things to the occupant that's inside.
29:04I've been told that there's one male adult inside, and he's currently under arrest.
29:09Okay.
29:10So the officers are going to be removing the individual from the residence.
29:14He's under arrest right now for possession of property obtained by crime over 5,000.
29:17They've seized a significant amount of jewelry within the residence.
29:21Have they come out yet?
29:23Yeah.
29:24How big of a deal is it that you not only found stolen merchandise, but yet another suspect?
29:38I mean, in this case, I think it's a great lead for our case.
29:43Not in every case do you recover amounts of stolen property.
29:47In this case, it certainly seems to be telling us that the property was destined for this location.
29:53Where it was going to go from here, I don't know.
29:56But it's certainly giving us that in-between point that we're always looking for.
30:03In that cruiser, a 19-year-old who now faces several charges related to a home invasion,
30:09possession of stolen vehicles, and a jewelry store robbery.
30:13And in this case, because he's the, it seems right now to be the only adult,
30:17do you think he might be playing a more senior role in any of these crimes?
30:21He certainly could be.
30:23And those are all angles that we'll be looking for as the investigation again unfolds.
30:27By no means is the investigation completed here today.
30:30Is there other people out there that we don't know of?
30:33So potentially your spiderweb might only get bigger?
30:37It certainly can, yes.
30:39Aw.
30:41Aw.
30:42There's a lot of emotion.
30:44This mother says she never expected her teenager would be facing robbery charges.
30:48I think that my son heard, you know, the treasure that awaited him and kind of got baited with that.
30:58What was the appeal you think?
31:01Money, freedom.
31:04They're going to be able to impress people and they're going to be able to wear certain clothes.
31:09People will say, where are their parents?
31:12They're watching horrifically from the sidelines.
31:18I think most parents want the best for their children and I don't think the best involves any of this.
31:28As a parent, you're worried about them being bullied at school and you're maybe worried about them doing drugs.
31:34You're typically not preparing yourself for them to be accused of a string of smashing grabs, right?
31:47We have a series of display boxes from a jewelry store and we also have broken glass in the bottom of the bag.
31:55So that's a pretty telling piece of evidence for us.
31:59Back at York Police Headquarters, today's operation led to a surprise arrest and a trove of potential evidence
32:06that seems to tie back to those stolen cars police had been watching.
32:12So like here you can see glove marks.
32:16And while this investigation moves forward, a bigger, disturbing pattern is also emerging.
32:23Young suspects out on bail, re-offending.
32:29We're seeing the same players again and again and again.
32:32And you're seeing people re-victimized or new victims and, you know, that part's hard to watch.
32:38And we're doing everything we can to lock them up.
32:40But they're right back out again.
32:43In Peel alone, 42% of the youths charged by the Central Robbery Bureau were breaching prior release conditions.
32:51If you look at the numbers, the numbers don't lie.
32:53We're not, the deterrent isn't there.
32:55So the messaging isn't there.
32:57And, you know, these repeat offenders and this cycle of violence that are occurring, it has to stop.
33:02There's a lot of people who are talking tough on bail reform.
33:05But do you think the answer is to lock kids up?
33:08Excellent question.
33:10And a tough answer.
33:13When you look at the crime and the severity of the crime and the impact of the community and, you know, there should be a deterrent for violent crime.
33:22So we need to absolutely look at how do we get ahead of that with those community supports.
33:28But for those that are committing absolute violent crime, they have to be held to account.
33:33Coming up.
33:34When you're directly investing in youth, you are preventing crime.
33:48Back at Jewelry Forever, after three attempted smashing grabs, Jerry Cerani and Joe Casap are always on high alert.
33:56You're always like looking over your shoulder, per se, to do the business that you used to be doing it comfortably.
34:03Now it's not comfortable anymore.
34:05We have all loyal customers, which always, you know, coming back.
34:08But definitely it affects the food traffic.
34:10The food traffic, yeah.
34:11Definitely it took that away.
34:12If somebody comes in with the hoodie, sunglasses, you're not coming in.
34:16At least you have a little bit of that little power because you have the doors locked.
34:20If I have, let's say, six, seven young kids, guys want to come in at the same time.
34:25Not at the same time.
34:26Unfortunately, we're not going to come in.
34:27That's probably one of the biggest things you can do to prevent these from happening in the first place,
34:31is being able to control entry.
34:33Look at your exterior, understand how they can get in, and either mitigate for your windows and your doors.
34:40I think having something to protect your front glass windows is a great idea,
34:46whether you're using film, laminate glass, or polycarbonate.
34:49And then inside, you want to look at some sort of security glass on your display cases, if possible,
34:58or limit the amount of jewelry that you actually leave out.
35:01So if you are victimized, there's less that they're able to take.
35:04We were wondering if we could get a battery replaced.
35:07Of course, yeah, of course.
35:08Cerani and Kasab say they have been at this location for 17 years.
35:12They've never had to be this careful.
35:14And they're not sure how much longer they can stay in business.
35:17Okay, pleasure to meet you again.
35:18The insurance just keeps going to go up and up.
35:20And for me to pay $5,000 a month now, because if you have incidents, it's going to be $10,000 a month.
35:27Third incident happened, fourth incident happened, insurance companies say,
35:32sorry, I cannot even insure you anymore.
35:34And when that happened, how am I going to run my business?
35:38In fact, remember that third robbery attempt on their store?
35:42It's part of that sprawling series of violent crimes we tracked with York police.
35:47And how do you feel that the June attack was connected to a string of other incidents?
35:52There is no consequences, right?
35:54When there's no punishment.
35:56The laws have changed for this to kind of come to a stop.
36:02What we need to do is scrap liberal bail.
36:05There's something broken when there is a revolving door in our justice system, particularly around bail.
36:11If people that are committing crimes are seeing a justice system that's not holding them accountable,
36:18that creates opportunity for more crime.
36:21Rising calls led the federal government to announce a sweeping bail reform bill
36:25this fall, it would toughen sentencing and make bail harder to get,
36:30especially for violent and repeat offenders.
36:33And now they would have to prove to the court why they should be granted bail
36:37instead of the onus being on the Crown to prove why they shouldn't.
36:41We're making bail stricter to keep you safer.
36:45You're focusing on the wrong thing.
36:47We need to be investing in our youth and investing in our youth's future.
36:53Carla Bailey is the executive director of My Neighborhood Services, which runs out of this community hub in Mississauga.
37:01It has given thousands of young people a place to go and always something to eat.
37:06We ensure that food is in every single one of our youth programs.
37:12And are you hearing that people might be making those decisions because they need money for food?
37:17What are you hearing?
37:18There's a lot of different things.
37:19There's the food, the social media, what's going on.
37:22There is the wanting to fit in.
37:25There's the friends.
37:27There's the siblings.
37:29You can't just put one thing and say, this is what's causing it.
37:34Right?
37:35What's the most common crime committed by youth in Canada?
37:40Okay.
37:41Yes, that's under 5,000.
37:44That's the most common crime.
37:46Again, there's no judgment in this room, but we also have to respect everyone.
37:50Prevention is the goal behind many of their programs here.
37:53And they start early, as young as middle school.
37:56We have mental health programs that will say, okay, what is it that we can help you with that supports this need?
38:09How can we help you to do better?
38:15Still there are gaps, and she's trying to close them.
38:20Bailey's organization also helps young offenders get back on track.
38:24When we look at our youth justice reintegration program, that program, it is supposed to serve 60 youths.
38:40Last year, it served 220 youths.
38:45What does that tell you?
38:47We all know prevention is so much better than cure, but we get to reintegrate them into society, give them the tools to succeed, to not re-offend.
39:01Have you guys been as busy since we left?
39:04It has been, yes.
39:05It hasn't really slowed at all.
39:07A few months after we first met with York Police, we went back to speak to the head of its hold-up unit, Detective Sergeant Ryan Boulay.
39:14We've had an uptick in home invasions this year.
39:17Okay.
39:18We're also trending up in our jewelry store robberies.
39:20He told us the unit has added four new officers to investigate yet another spike in violent robberies.
39:27I'll tell you that in 2023 to 2024, we've seen our jewelry store robberies increase roughly 133%.
39:34And in 2025, we're trending upwards of that number that we've seen last year as kind of our, you know, five-year high.
39:40What do you make of that?
39:42I mean, it's disturbing that it seems every time we make an arrest or an occurrence happens, another one seems to follow it.
39:50And that's not just, you know, strictly to York Region.
39:53We're seeing that across the Greater Toronto Area.
39:55And getting to the people calling the shots is still a challenge.
40:00In a lot of cases, they're not willing to provide, you know, if you want to call it statements as to who had sent them there, who orchestrated it.
40:08And I'd imagine a lot of time that's fear of retaliation, right?
40:11You speak to the police, you're known as a rat and you're going to essentially, you know, you may not be in that good of a place when you get released from custody.
40:18How worried are you if there is no intervention?
40:21Certainly if there's no intervention.
40:24I would be willing to bet that there's really no positive outlook that's going to come for adulthood with those offenders.
40:31At the end of the day, we as the police, like we get it.
40:33We need help as well to combat these types of crimes, especially when we're seeing such young offenders.
40:39The home invasion case we told you about ended with convictions, including one for a young offender.
40:46But that night still haunts the family.
40:48It just felt very violating because it happened in our own house.
40:53Like at night when I go to sleep, I can't close my eyes.
40:57I feel like if I close them and then I feel like they're standing right there at the doorway because that's when they stormed up and that's when we first saw them.
41:07You didn't get a chance to talk to them.
41:08You didn't get a chance to talk to them.
41:09But if you did, what would you say to them?
41:11So I wanted to ask why you did this, what motivated you, and then see what you have done.
41:22Do you think you're proud of what you have done?
41:25How far can they go doing this?
41:29This cannot take you far.
41:32I constantly wonder if it's the right decision for him, if it's the right decision for the rest of my family.
41:40This mother is afraid for her son's safety and his future, and it forced her to make a tough choice.
41:46Where is your son right now?
41:48He's in the detention center.
41:50And why is he still in the detention center?
41:52Because I am not bailing him out.
41:56I don't think that bailing him out is what is going to support him.
42:06He would learn outside with the same group of people that he got arrested with.
42:13I think overall, unfortunately, he is safer there.
42:24Is that your hope that it will deter, that bail reform will deter?
42:27I do hope bail reform helps.
42:31Because until there's somebody able to kind of push back, I think, at the people telling them, like,
42:39you'll get money, but go and do this for me, because if I do it, I get 15 years.
42:44If you do it, you get to go home to your mom.
42:47I don't think the adults are going to stop using kids, you know?
42:53It's also, like, really pathetic.
42:55To use a child for financial gain, it's pretty sickening.
43:00I'm Stephen D'Souza, next week on The Fifth Estate.
43:03We're on St. Mary's Bay in Nova Scotia.
43:05The richest part of Canada's billion-dollar lobster industry, where there's a war on the water.
43:18Go home.
43:31You go home, lady.
43:33Intimidation and frequent threats of violence.
43:37Places burning down, windows getting smashed in, houses being shot up, people getting shot at.
43:43You hear stories that's a little lawless sometimes around rural Nova Scotia.
43:46The fight over who gets to fish here has left communities bitter and divided.
43:51We're not pirates. We're not the villains.
43:53Does racism play a role here, do you think?
43:55Uh, no.
43:58A dispute with roots older than Canada itself.
44:01Love's not going anywhere. It's been around for a very long time.
44:05We look at who's cashing in on the chaos.
44:08I'm sick of it. There's nothing to do with conservation. It's just, it's total greed.
44:12Are we going anywhere to see the event?
44:15That's next week on The Fifth Estate.
44:20Want more Fifth Estate? Sign up for our weekly newsletter.
44:24Be among the first to know about our upcoming investigations and get behind-the-scenes details you can't find anywhere else.
44:31Head to our website, cbc.ca slash fifth, to subscribe.
45:01Go on.
45:05Go on.
45:10Oh, boy.
45:14A doctor.
45:16I can keep thinking.
45:18I can pay for dollars.
45:19One, two, one, two.
45:20I can keep thinking.
45:21And I have two изб thanks.
45:23Hmm?
45:24Uh.
45:26anar home.
45:27A fair.
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