Crime Beat: A stolen life | S7 E21

Our target's out from his apartment.He's headed to a side street on the north side here.This is them coming.They got a left turn on.48, he strokes mark land.Hands start clapping.

Typically, it's about 15 to 22 is that median age that we see involved in auto theft.

Crime is a high -risk lifestyle, and when people are involved in that, especially young people, it's easy for things to go too far.

Only about an hour and a half after this vehicle is stolen, this turns into a homicide investigation.

Welcome to a special edition of Crime Beat, I'm Anthony Robart.Auto theft in Canada is now costing the insurance industry a billion dollars in claims each year.This highly profitable crime is also becoming increasingly violent.In August of 2024, just north of Toronto for example, a 16 year old was dropped off at a hospital with a stab wound.He did not survive.Police say the victim was part of a violent car theft ring.

Tonight, we investigate auto theft and the dark reality of those affected by this crisis.Here now is A Stolen Life.It's 5 a .m.on a quiet street just north of Toronto.Movement in a driveway triggers the recording of a dash camera.

Two men approach a Toyota Tundra.

We're seeing a male party walking up to the vehicle.It looks like he's starting to case the vehicle out.Looking up on top of the roof, another male enters from the right of the screen, and it appears that the one male, the first male, is talking on his cell phone.And you'll see that this other male has now jumped up on top of the vehicle.He smashes the sunroof, and then cuts the fabric where the sunroof cover is, and then ultimately gains entry to the vehicle.Then they do whatever they do, programming, getting the vehicle to start.

You'll see the lights turn on, brake lights come on, reverse lights will come on, and ultimately the vehicle backs away from the driveway, and then is driven from the area.Nobody wakes up, and it happens within minutes of them arriving at the house.

It's not uncommon.Auto theft at this time is at a high in Canada with Toyota Tundras being one of the most targeted vehicles in Ontario.

So what you see is the vehicle entering from the left of the screen to the right.It travels to a court where another vehicle believed to be our Hyundai Elantra arrives in tandem with our stolen Toyota Tundra.And you can see Where the Tundra's headlights are, you can see there's motion.It looks like figures walking back and forth, the stolen Tundra.And another vehicle, believed to be an SUV, arrives, unknown who's actually driving that vehicle.It only stays in the area for a short period of time.

It looks like two figures are walking again from the Toyota, and they walk over to the Hyundai.

We could see vehicles being moved and multiple different individuals being involved in the movement of those vehicles.So that was consistent throughout that video canvas where certainly more than one person was involved.

This to me, this looks to be like everybody that's involved in the auto theft group.It would depict that there's multiple people involved with the theft of these vehicles.My suggestion is that they would be passing this off to the next person in line involved in the auto theft.So what you'll see here is whoever's on in the Toyota, Toyota Tundra speeds from the court.

What happens next is the mystery.

This turns into a homicide investigation only about an hour and a half after this vehicle is stolen.

Soon after the Toyota Tundra was stolen, this teenager would be pronounced dead in hospital.Because he is a minor, his identity is protected.

So the call that I received on the morning of August the 8th, 2024 was for an injured person call from a local hospital where a young person had been brought to the hospital by two people and one of the people had remained at the hospital.Unfortunately, the injured person had passed away after being brought to the hospital.So as a result, the homicide unit was called and an investigation was launched.I assigned Detective Andrew Cook as the lead investigator.

We were notified shortly after 7 a .m.that this incident was on the go and that it's the death of a person with a stab wound.

Video from a camera on a bus captures a grey Hyundai running a red light outside the hospital and dropping the victim off.

We had very limited information on who the victim was.There was no actual identification on his person that had belonged to him.So we just didn't know who he was at that time, how old he was.We didn't know any of that information.

I would say identifying who the victim is is critical or primary at that point, but also keeping an open mind, not knowing.Really anything at that point, you have to be alive to any possibilities.

It was discovered that he actually had some property that belonged to another person.We looked in and we found that there was a theft of a vehicle report.Around 6 a .m.a homeowner had come outside and realized that his vehicle had been stolen.And that homeowner was subsequently the identification that our victim had on him.

I think my mind went to that he could have been involved in the theft of that vehicle or involved in a group of people that may have been stealing vehicles in the area.

A call comes in that the Toyota Tundra has been found.

The owner of the vehicle had a tracking system in the vehicle, which was activated upon him discovering that it was stolen.So what you can see in this video is almost about an hour after the actual theft took place.This vehicle, the stolen Toyota Tundra, arrives at a parking garage on Weston Road in Toronto.You can see the sunroof has been shattered out of the top of the vehicle, and he attempts to park in one of the spots.

Back at the hospital, detectives begin getting tips on who their victim is.

The victim was a youth, so we can't get into his name for legal reasons, but he's a young person, 16 years of age, from the province of Quebec.

It's alarming to us as the 16 -year -old victim of a homicide.Obviously, we're wondering how he came to being in the area, who he was involved with, who was involved in the auto theft portion of this.We're looking into all those different avenues of how this victim, this 16 -year -old boy, ends up becoming a victim of a homicide.

As a police officer, you know that young people are involved in crime and often used by criminals to carry out work on their behalf.But when you speak to the personal element, obviously, a 16 -year -old, you feel bad for the young person whose life was taken away early, for the family of that young person.And so you want to do everything you can to understand what happened.

The truck is brought in for forensics.And word comes of a new lead.

So throughout the investigation, we were learning a lot.the names of a lot of different people that were involved.Kat was a name that came up through witness interviews and evidence that we recovered during the course of the investigation.

We look through phone records, any devices seized from accused parties, any devices from the victim and then we start looking into phone numbers associated and we were able to identify through records the name Catherine Bergeron, Pinzeron.So through investigation and MTO information, we were able to discover that she actually had an address listed to a condo building in the Mississauga area.They head to her condo, but can't locate her.We were able to seize video from that location, identify the cars that she was driving on August 8th.You can see the white Mercedes entering into the frame.This is only hours after the homicide has taken place.

The vehicle parks.And what you'll see later in the video is Catherine Bergeron and three other males exit the white Mercedes and attend inside the actual condo building.And this is another camera angle from the parking garage to the parking garage elevators.You can see Catherine Bergeron in the screen there.The male standing right beside her is believed to be her boyfriend at that time.You can see them enter the elevator.

Catherine Bergeron stands, looks up at the camera, and they ultimately select the, I believe it's the 53rd floor of the condo building.And her boyfriend kisses her forehead.I had received information that she was a planner.She was the one planning and kind of recruiting other males to actually execute the theft of the vehicles.That was kind of her role within that organization, is that she would plan, she would bring people to the GTA, and she would bring them there.for the purpose of stealing cars.

Less than an hour later, they are seen getting into the same elevator.

So this is going down from the 53rd floor.You can see Catherine Bergeron.She's pushing a suitcase.Her boyfriend's got a number of items in his hands.The male in the blue has what appears to be a suitcase as well, and they're all carrying some sort of baggage leaving the condo building.They exit the elevator with all the baggage.

Obviously, she's trying to flee the area.That's kind of where my mind goes.And we were able to solidify that with records and phone records that she did subsequently leave the GTA and return to Montreal.

While their hunt is on for suspects, witnesses begin to talk.

From what we get from witness information is that there was an altercation that took place between Catherine's boyfriend and the victim, which led to an altercation where Catherine retrieved a knife and stabbed the victim, causing his injury and ultimately causing his death.

A transit bus captures a grey Hyundai blowing a red light to drop the victim in hospital, but he does not survive.

My own personal thoughts, obviously, it's a tragedy.Yes, the victim was involved in other crimes, but it's certainly still a tragic event when a 16 -year -old boy turns up at hospital and is passed away from an injury.

Investigators formed the grounds to believe that Catherine Bergeron -Pinzeroni stabbed the victim on the early morning hours of Thursday, August 8, 2024.And as a result, a warrant was sought for second -degree murder.

The white Mercedes was recovered in Montreal, but Catherine has not been found.

Shortly after the homicide investigation began, there were no more leads to where she was.So a short time after the offence is when the leads of her whereabouts ended.

The trail has run cold out to the Montreal area.I firmly believe that she is in the Montreal area.What her means of income are or how she's surviving, I don't know.

She has now been named one of Canada's most wanted.Police are now on the hunt for the suspect in the murder of a youth believed to be a part of an auto theft ring.Authorities say organized crime groups are fueling a surge in auto thefts nationwide.Well now a specialized unit is working in real time to intercept thieves in the act.We now return to A Stolen Life.As night falls and a community tucks in, a high stakes cat and mouse game begins.

Ontario as a whole, especially within the GTA, it's a relatively affluent community.People generally like to drive nice cars.Some people park them indoors, some people park them in their garages, or some people park them outside on the street or the driveway.And because there's so many and there's such access to them, they get stolen.

You know, in the past years, people were always curious, you know, why are these theft groups coming from Quebec, coming from Toronto, targeting these areas?Because it's the prevalence of the high value vehicles.And these are the vehicles that are sought after overseas for export.It's also kind of the perfect storm in Ontario because we are so close to the port of Montreal.we're so close to all the rail, you know the two large rail terminals here in the GTA, it just really is the perfect place to steal and then traffic vehicles overseas.

The York Regional Police Auto and Cargo Theft Unit are on the front lines battling stolen vehicles in Canada's busiest region.

Guys, the plan for tonight is going to be we are going to get out on surveillance on our crime vehicle.And once we get that crime vehicle secured and we're following it in a safe manner, we're going to let them go about their business.If they do commit a theft, we're going to let them complete that theft.And then we'll try and track down the stolen vehicle.Tonight our team is out on a crime group that's involved in the overnight driveway thefts throughout the GTA and we're going to be going to set up surveillance at this party's apartment in Toronto and we will be looking to do surveillance on him from that location in hopes of catching him dirty or in the act getting ready to steal and then at that point we're likely to interdict him and make an arrest.It's troubling for a lot of people.

When someone has their vehicle stolen in that way, it can be traumatizing.It can be something that changes how they feel about their personal safety.So it is important.

Oh yeah, they're screwed.

The suspected crime group they're targeting is particularly brazen.

During that evening, we were conducting surveillance on the group, you know, to establish some criminality and build evidence.And they made an attempt on a Toyota Tundra.And during that attempt, the homeowner contacted the local police service as they saw them outside her window.And she was able to record a cell phone video.And in the video, you know, kind of our main suspect or the leader of the crime group is seen waving at her, making a heart with his hands and just, you know, with no care or any kind of respect for her property or her safety, essentially.

Each role within auto theft groupswith a different paycheck.

The lowest level would be a scout, we would call them.They would go out and identify vehicles to be stolen.So these people get just paid a nominal amount.So it could be $75 to $100 a vehicle to actually go out, scout the neighbourhood, look for vehicles that fit and qualify for something that they're looking for.And with that, they would now share that to, say, a thief.So the thief is somebody that has the ability to physically break into the car.

The thief, he gets paid a little bit more.The thief gets paid, like, usually a couple thousand dollars for the vehicle, because he reprograms the keys, resets it.Over and above the thief, then, you will have somebody that actually physically moves the car.The person that moves the vehicle within that hierarchy, they're going to get a little less money than the thief.They might get between $500 and $1 ,000, or maybe only a couple hundred, depending how far they're moving.Then as you start to work up into the higher organization hierarchy, that's either someone that's here or overseas that's manipulating that.

Moving vehicles into cargo containers that end up at the port of Montreal.

We will often say as a group, you know, you can go out and you can do different crime, but if you steal two vehicles and traffic them, you know, for the thieves, they might make $10 ,000, $15 ,000 a night.For the traffickers that are sending those two Toyota Tundras overseas, they might make $100 ,000.So that definitely funds organized crime.We've seen it fund domestic organized crime, international organized crime.There have been links to different terrorist groups that are benefiting from the money that's being made from these stolen vehicles.

Detective Scott Cresswell's team has been surveilling this suspected crime group for weeks.

And what this group would do is they would be cruising around residential neighborhoods in the wee hours, searching for cars to steal.When they found something that was desirable to them, they would make an attempt to steal it, and thenmove it from that location.

Our target's out from his apartment.

He's headed to a side street on the north side here.

The act can happen in just seconds.

So there's two kind of main areas.One is a pure reprogram.So they will go in through this port, and they tell your car, I've lost my original key.Reprogram it to this key.So they reprogram the keys to make it a new key.They're in and out of cars within, they sometimes go in through the sunroof, they'll come in through the back window, they'll come in through a back passenger door window, they'll spin the tumbler on the lock.

It could be a couple of minutes, up to 10 minutes.The next one was our relay theft, and the relay theft is capturing a signal from your house, and that is basically working in a two -person team.So the first person would be standing by the house, capturing the signal from your key fob, and your key fob emits a small signal all the time, because it's looking for your car.And when it's looking for your car, it's submitting the signal.And the person standing at your door captures that signal and relays it to the person that's by the car that's carrying another pack.And then your car goes, oh, my key's outside.

Within that proximity, the car opens.Start the car.Away we go.And the car's gone.And that can take 20 seconds.There's a CAN bus attack.

And it's basically like a component that's in your car that's plugged into your one headlight that you can basically tell your car it needs to do an emergency start.

It's similar to street gangs, and they're utilizing street gangs in some of the cases, and it's disenfranchised youth.Number one, they're looking for money, but they're also looking for sometimes like a feeling of belonging.Sadly, we've seen criminals involved in this to the age of 12, and sometimes even younger, but typically it's about 15 years old.is that median age that we see involved in auto theft.This is them here.

That's our crime vehicle.

We describe a crime vehicle as any vehicle, generally a stolen vehicle, that's used to commit other crimes.Generally, what these theft crews will do is they will steal another high -end vehicle, such as a Toyota Tundra or a Lexus RX 350, and then they will use that to further steal.It's really about, for them, what do they feel comfortable in.Yeah, this is them coming.They got a left turn on for Main Street.

That's our car right there.We know that there's three suspects in the vehicle now.And what our focus is, is to find a safe opportunity to interdict them and, you know, generate a safe outcome.They're in a powerful, fast, stolen vehicle.So they're not afraid to just jump on the highway and put the pedal down and disregard public safety.They just, they're not afraid to drive.

48, I'm working.I'm at Bloor now.We're going to have a hard time catching up.48, I'm almost there.Our main intersection for our bad guys is Bloor and Dixie.

As the sun comes up, surveillance, tactical, and canine teams close in.

We're right there.And our guy's right beside us.Yeah, 48 has the eye.He holds the two, heading west on Bloor.Mark land in the future.Man's up and dancing.

48 he strokes mark land and start clapping, building a little bit of shade here as he moves from the two to the one heading west on Bloor.

What happened was we were able to get them to a very safe location where we knew they were parking this crime vehicle behind us and then we were able to kind of like move in in a verycontrolled way.

48, I come around at Winding Trail and Dixie.I have him here.He's set up right now to TNT Dixie, heading westbound.One in custody at the building, guys.One in custody at the building.I could tell from the radio transmissions that our team was in a good position and they were set up for what we had planned and it followed that plan.

We were able to safely box in their car and then both suspects ended up exiting the vehicle on foot.There was a short foot pursuit and both were taken into custody.And then we were able to use the ERU, our canine and our members to safely arrest everybody without injuries.They're in custody now and they're facing significant charges and we expect them to stay in jail for some time.

Jaran Sivakumar and Jakai Summers -Green were charged with theft of a motor vehicle and other related charges and are before the courts.Welcome back.When stolen vehicles aren't recovered quickly.They can be loaded into shipping containers and sent to port within just hours.Through a coordinated effort called Project Vector, police and border officials are racing to stop those shipments, targeting suspect containers before they reach overseas crime networks.We now return to A Stolen Life.

The port of Montreal.Eastern Canada's largest port.container port.Every day, ships bring cargo in and out, close to 40 million tons a year.In a highly secure warehouse, a Canadian border services team is waiting to open a suspicious load before it's exported.

The main way to export a vehicle from Canada is through the port.The busiest port in Canada is the Port of Montreal.We have seen containers leaving from Halifax, but really the predominant method of export is through the port.The stolen vehicles will be containerized, sometimes in the GTA, sometimes in the Montreal area, and then they'll be placed on the ship and sent overseas.

Canada is a source country for these vehicles.Somebody somewhere is paying for these vehicles and they're paying a lot for them.They pay a certain amount of dollar value to have the vehicle stolen and shipped and then when it gets to wherever the country is that they want to sell this vehicle, there's a lot of profit attached to it.Now that profit, it's not just to fund one individual that's making wealth out of that.It's groups and networks that use this money to fund other organized crime.

Each year, thousands of stolen vehicles leave undetected.

The international ports that we employ are incredibly busy.They are made to facilitate the transfer of cargo in and out of the country.Really, the stolen vehicles, even though there's a large number of them, are a needle in a haystack.

X -ray machines are used to target and identify what they call dirty containers.

I mean, people wonder, why can't you just search every container?It's pure volume.There's thousands and thousands, tens of thousands of containers that are leaving the ports.

We use intelligence -led policing to identify containers that are suspected of containing stolen vehicles, then they are put aside.They're held.There's a hold on that container until CBSA, the Port of Montreal, and our group at Vector can open the container and then examine the stolen vehicles.

Project Vector is the coordination of, you know, multiple agencies, including police, CBSA, the different rail systems, and it really has led to a huge number of vehicles being recovered at the port before they're exported.

This container contained two vehicles of the same brand, so the vehicles were pulled out, and the research that they did confirmed that they were stolen vehicles.

Their VIN, Vehicle Identification Number, confirms they're from the Greater Toronto Area.

So when they're being shipped overseas, these stolen vehicles have destinations in foreign countries and it's really where the demand is.These illegally exported vehicles end up anywhere across the world.Often destinations are in the Mediterranean, they end up in the continent of Africa, they land in ports in Europe and then they go everywhere from there.

CBSA search for other contraband.

Right now the officer Open the container, perform the search of the vehicle, and he found some black bags.So what we're going to do is going to do the least intrusive exams first before opening so we can see what is in the bags.

So basically what we can see, it's clothing.Those are zippers, other cords.So I can not see any contraband, any other substance actually inside the bag here.

From here, the vehicles will be sent to a center for a thorough exam.

These are all vehicles that were recovered at the Port of Montreal with the attempt to be exported out of the country.So all vehicles that were stolen throughout Canada, mostly Ontario and Quebec.SUVs, pickup trucks, and some more likelysedans, every year in around between 15 and 2 ,000 vehicles.

I'm looking at the VIN plate or the VIN sticker on this vehicle and taking note of the number.So what I'm going to do, I'm going to take a tool to see if I can move this piece around, if the original VIN number is still under this one, because this seems to be a fake one.

Re -vinning is where they try to disguise the true identity of the vehicle.There's public vehicle identification numbers on the vehicle.One is in your windshield.They try and replace it, mask it, whether it be a clone bin, something to alter the identity of that vehicle.

They put a fake vin sticker on the plastic part.And this is one of the trend we do have right now.I'm taking note of the federal certification sticker, which on this one is a fake one.

Extensive examination is done to make sure all major parts belong to the same vehicle.

They have the skills, knowledge and ability to be able to identify the true identity of that vehicle.And that's an important piece because the last thing we would want is a vehicle recovered to leave the country and then just returned back into the system, sold at an auction, sold to an unsuspecting purchaser.So that examination is extremely important.

They also know how the vehicle was likely stolen.This seems to be the point of entry of the vehicle.They broke the sunroof to get in the vehicle.Then they tear off part of the dashboard to have access to the electronic system to be able to start the vehicle.

When experts examine a vehicle, they understand the methodology that criminals are using to steal the vehicle.And sometimes they can almost identify a pattern and recognize that, well, this method is used by criminals.groups, gangs, people.We can gather forensic evidence, which can be then used to lay charges and ensure convictions.That's why a good inspection of a stolen vehicle is always a great step in an investigation.

Each week, stolen vehicles are transferred back to the police of jurisdiction.

Everybody focusing on the recovery of these stolen vehicles before they leave the country, and that's the focus of Project Vector, is stopping the vehicles before they get exported, and it's been very successful.

In the port of Montreal, there's almost 1 .5 million of containers that are moving per year.But specifically for the project Victor, in 2024, for example, we seized almost 1 ,300 stolen vehicles.In 2025, we were about almost 1 ,000 vehicles.It represents $75 million for stolen vehicles.

The more vehicles we recover, the more containers we stop.that are loaded with stolen vehicles leaving the country.We are hurting this crime group financially because they've put out X amount of dollars to arrange for the traffic of these vehicles and now there will be no payday on the other end.

The Project Vator is built to send a message to make it clear that we will continue to work to keep the pressure on criminal groups, organized groups that are involved with stolen vehicles.

I can say they've recovered well over 2 ,000 vehicles in probably less than an 18 -month period.They've intercepted hundreds of containers.And then we've gathered intelligence that have spawned further criminal investigations and resulted in criminal charges in Ontario and Quebec.

Quebec, despite authorities' best efforts in stoppingthe flow of stolen vehicles overseas, thousands still make it through undetected.When they do, the investigation doesn't stop.A new project called Take Back is working to bring stolen vehicles home.Here once again is A Stolen Life.At the port of Halifax, a team is waiting for a shipment that is returning from overseas.

Project Take Back is basically vehicles that have left Canada and gone overseas to foreign nations and now we're making the effort to return those vehicles back to Canada.Repatriation itself has occurred before but never to the extent that we're doing it now.We are making a concerted effort by Canadian law enforcement as well as with our insurance company partners to bring these vehicles back from overseas.We're trying to prevent the feed of these vehicles from arriving to their foreign destinations because these vehicles are then resold overseas to nations abroad and then that money is used to help fund organized crime.

Project Take Back is a first in the fact that now we're not bringing back a vehicle at a time, we're bringing them back in batch vehicles and they're coming back to Canada.So what used to take years is now happening in weeks.

It looks like we got a Lexus in good condition, looks fairly new.and what appears to be a black toy on a tundra in the front of the container.

So when we first get the container here, we open the doors.We can visually see that there's vehicles in there that was suspected to be stolen.We complete our custom search for restricted and prohibited items.

Yeah, it's got better clamps.

We obtain the bin from the vehicle.We have databases that we can run that bin in and if it'sconfirmed as an active stolen vehicle, then we have an obligation to treat it as such.Therefore, we'll seize it under the criminal code and turn it over to the police jurisdiction for a current investigation.

What I'm looking for is to make sure the windshield VIN matches the VIN inside the door, just to confirm the identity of the vehicle.

In Halifax, in just three months, they've taken back 57 vehicles.

Not long ago, the vehicles were dollar for dollar, U .S.dollar.So if you bought a Lexus RX 350 for $80 ,000 Canadian, you were getting $80 ,000 U .S.or better overseas.

Now, to put it on a container and to ship it overseas, it's not that expensive to do.

So you think about the profit margin there, it's quite large.

Once seized by customs, they are sent back to York Regional Police and to an undisclosed warehouse.

All the vehicles in this warehouse are from Project Take Back.They have been arriving from foreign ports such as Spain and Italy.By the end of the year, we're looking to have approximately 2 ,000 vehicles that have returned to Canada.So a lot of these cars are common vehicles.Like if you're looking at a CR -V to my left, there's another CR -V to my right.You've got Lexus RX350s, very common vehicles.

Behind me, you're going to see Jeep Wrangler.You've got various pickup trucks.You'll have Rams and F -150s, very common vehicles.

Each vehicle is treated like a crime scene.

So in this particular one, the thieves entered through the back window.They will climb through the vehicle to get to the onboard diagnostic port, which is underneath the steering wheel.Once they get under that, that's where they'll reprogram the keys.But if you look also within the vehicle itself, it's got part of the dashboard that's torn out, and it's to get to the onboard diagnostic port.some of the GPS components are.So once they'll try and shut that down to make sure that the vehicle can no longer be tracked.

So what I'm doing in this car is I'm looking for fingerprints to help identify the person who took the car.So in this case, they've pulled out the dash panel to help steal the car.So we're going to fingerprint the inside of the panel in case they touched it with their bare hands.So we have our black powder, which is a staple for us.And we're just fingerprinting the flat and smooth surfaces where they might leave a fingerprint.

Inside the cup holder of the vehicle, we discovered this key fob.Some vehicles are stolen with a reprogrammed key fob.And one way to tell if it's a reprogrammed fob or not is to check to see if there's actually a physically cut key inside.By releasing that.We can see that there's a blank key inside, which means that this is a reprogrammed key fob used to steal the vehicle.So we're going to take a DNA swab of the item.

We want to see their network.So we want to identify how they steal the car.What type of computer programming equipment are they using?Where are they taking the vehicles?How are they shipping the vehicles?And then we work backwards through that.

So that intelligence piece, that investigation, a full circle identifying exactly what happened, the life of that vehicle, from when it was stolen until it was recovered and returned to Canada, is extremely important.All of those pieces may not be significant on their own, but when you put it all together, the pieces of the puzzle, definitely paint a clear picture as to how the vehicle was stolen and who stole it.

Eventually, these luxury cars are sent back to insurance companies, where they will go to auction.

It's important on a number of reasons.We have to remove the profitability from organized crime.So when we return that vehicle to Canada, we're preventing the organization.crime group from profiting, but also we're gathering intelligence, we're gathering evidence, and then we're returning small bit of that profit to either the insurance companies or citizens of Ontario and Canada.

With Project Take Back early days, but there's 412 stolen vehicles that are in process right now.108 of those vehicles have already been returned to Canada.and 13 are currently on the water right now being returned to Canada.

We started at probably about a 25 % recovery rate and we're probably up into the probably the mid to the higher 40s now which is a great improvement.It's just because of that spotlight that's been shown kind of Canada -wide and everybody really collaborating and working together to try and you know recover these vehicles.

Welcome back.Police say auto theft is becoming increasingly violent with carjackings and home invasions targeting high -end vehicles.In one tragic case, a 16 -year -old lured into a criminal gang, was killed by his own associates.We now return to the conclusion of A Stolen Life.The theft of a Toyota Tundra leads to the murder of a 16 -year -old Montreal boy.

So as it relates to the stolen vehicle, the video canvas was done, and we were able to secure video which showed a vehicle theft, an auto theft, and we suspected our victim being involved in that just hours before, unfortunately, he passed away.

The jump between the murder and the auto theft, we didn't have any direct knowledge of why the homicide took place, and we were slowly getting information, getting video, and speaking to witnesses, which later made sense.to understanding why it went from an auto theft to a homicide.

In 2023 -2024, when auto theft was really exploding, we were seeing a large number of groups from Quebec, and they were coming in droves in these crime groups to just steal vehicles and funnel them back to Montreal.And we would often encounter young people that were, you know, either marked as runaway, as a missing person, and they were being exploited by these crime groups as, you know, the boots on the ground to steal vehicles.You know, they're essentially recruited by the older members of the crime groups, by, you know, a more senior person, and they're brought into the fold with this promise of money and excitement, and unfortunately they get kind of attracted to that.And then they're the ones that are actually physically involved in stealing the vehicles, and generally at more jeopardy than someone who's arranging the export and the thefts of the vehicles.

Well, I would say teens are vulnerable in auto theft rings, similar to other crimes, and then just vulnerable in life in general, right?So they still haven't developed the wisdom that age brings, and they're easily convinced of the benefits of something without potentially seeing the risk to it.

There's a lot of violence associated to auto theft.Again, progressing to home invasions and carjackings.But just even in the auto theft world, we've seen violence between rival groups or within the same group.

Just in terms of how does an auto theft turn into a homicide, I think I just repeat that crime is a high -risk lifestyle.And when people are involved in that, especially young people, it's easy for things to go too far and for people to become injured or, in this case, die through a murder.So I can't speculate on exactly what happened that morning, but certainly a high -risk lifestyle like auto theft, people get hurt, people get killed, unfortunately.So those things happen.

That's hours after the homicide took place and the victim was brought to the hospital.The initial thoughts are, for me, was that, like, obviously, she's trying to flee the area.That's kind of where my mind goes.She's listed as one of Canada's most dangerous offenders.I just think the overall totality of the crime that's happened here and that it's involving a young victim.

Catherine and a number of her associates were involved in a auto theft ring that was based out of the Montreal area.During their auto thefts, they traveled into the province of Ontario and committed thefts here and brought the cars back to Montreal.She is wanted for murder.It was during one of those events on August 8th of 2024.They met up with some of their associates in a park in the Richmond Hill area.Catherine fatally stabbed one of her associates, who was at the time a 16 -year -old youth.

and left him for dead.We do know that this was an auto -theft ring that was operating in the GTA and as well as in the Montreal area, and had been operating for some time prior to the event.We know that she is within Canada.Essentially, the borders have closed for her.We're tightening the noose on her right now, and thanks to the BOLA program, it's gotten even tighter.The cold -bloodedness of the attack on the youth and the fact that we know that she committed this crime, we have all the evidence to prove it, we just are unable to find her at this time.

We have received tip information and we follow up on those tips.Unfortunately, none of the tips have led us to her at this point, but we're still hopeful that we're going to receive more information on her whereabouts and get her in custody.

There have been some arrests within this suspected crime group.Linsley Francois and Mohamed Ibn Hail, who police have identified, were arrested and charged with auto theft related offenses, which are before the courts.Another suspect that police have identified is William Gallant of Quebec City.He is currently wanted for auto theft related offenses.And this person, who police believe may have been involved, was never identified.Though the allegations against Catherine Bergeron Pinzaron have not been tested in court, they are asking you to be on the lookout.

The public can be on the lookout for Catherine Bergeron -Pinzeroni.At the time of the offence, she was 27 years old, so she's in her late 20s now.She's a white or Caucasian female, about 5 '1", and weighs anywhere from 120 to 130 pounds.She has brown hair and brown eyes.I think it's just really important that if anyone knows where Catherine Bergeron -Pinzeroni is, that they contact their local police.They can contact Crime Stoppers, or they can contact 911 and turn her in.

As police continue their hunt.Special teams work to shut down the auto theft rings that recruit young people into their networks.We are gonna get out on surveillance.

Auto theft is a gateway crime for a lot of youth.That's sometimes their first steps in committing crimes and then they sometimes progress to violent crimes, you know, violent carjacking, violent home invasions.So I think you need to find ways to divert youth early and I think there's benefit in looking at what other countries are doing and examining that and maybe making some changes here.One recent change promises to make a difference.There has been some changes to the criminal code.There's parts of the organized crime code that involve the use of youth in a crime or recruiting youth to commit organized crime.

When organized crime recruits a youth to commit crime on their behalf, there's an additional charge for that.So that's very significant.I think it's going to make a difference, because it's going to hold organized crime responsible when they recruit youth into crime.So it's going to basically put an onus on them.If that's what you do, you're going to face another penalty.and a substantial charge under organized crime legislation.

Well, I think it's very important that she's arrested.Homicide murder is one of the most serious offenses in the criminal code.In this case, it involves a young person.And I think it's really important that she's brought to justice.

Here's one last look at Canada's most wanted, Catherine Bergeron -Pinzereau.If you have any information on her whereabouts, you are asked to call Crime Stoppers.And remember, it's anonymous.I'm Anthony Robart.Thank you for joining us tonight on Crime Beat.Want more episodes of Crime Beat?

Listen to the Crime Beat podcast now for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your favorite podcast.And for past episodes of Crime Beat, go to the Global TV app, visit globaltv .com, or check out our Crime Beat YouTube page.