How Saskatoon police helped with a $12M car theft bust

A Saskatoon police officer says a recent Ontario car theft bust with ties to Saskatoon is another reminder of how transient crime here can aid criminal operations elsewhere.

Supt. Patrick Nogier said it also shows how vital inter-provincial cooperation is to curbing widespread organized crime.

Nogier said he was first notified of a large investigation in Ontario surrounding the suspected fraudulent modification and sale of hundreds of stolen vehicles in September 2021.

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Shortly afterwards, Saskatoon police were asked to help with the investigation as Ontario Provincial Police officers believed two suspects in the city were involved.

“I think that's the interesting part is as we're starting to experience a lot of transient criminal activity that occurs across the country. From time to time we'll see movement come through the prairie provinces,” he said.

“This just happens to be one investigation where there was an impact locally, that stemmed from an outside investigation.”

Saskatoon police helped bust an Ontario-based auto theft ring. (Ontario Provincial Police)

The investigation, titled Project MYRA by investigators, was revealed on Thursday after police seized 214 vehicles with a combined value of more than $12 million.

The alleged scheme worked in three ways.

First, an unnamed criminal organization based in Ontario’s Peel region was responsible for altering VINs from vehicles stolen in Ontario and fraudulently registering them for resale, police say.

Another organization based in the Durham region and Toronto was responsible for registering the stolen vehicles in Saskatchewan, transferring the paperwork to Ontario and registering and selling the vehicles to various people, including crime networks, police say.

Finally, a criminal organization based in the York region was allegedy responsible for the high-end stolen vehicles, like a Lamborghini Urus police said is valued at more than $200,000.

Nogier says that level of sophistication soon led investigators to believe this involved more than a couple of suspected criminals operating independently.

Nogier wasn’t able to elaborate on why 37 per cent of the recovered vehicles were the Honda or Acura brands, or if Saskatchewan was strategically targeted.

He praised the way in which six different police services from two provinces were able to coordinate and speed the investigation along.

Thanks to plenty of coordination and a lot of hard work, Nogier said the sprawling investigation was able to make large strides in a matter of months instead of years.

“These investigations get fairly sophisticated very quickly,” Nogier said, noting the number of judicial authorizations, surveillance and interviews necessary to make any progress.

“When it got to a point where we had to take action it was all based on information that we were receiving from Ontario. Once we had that information, we knew who our targets were then we could focus in.”

The investigation resulted in 28 people being charged with 242 offences after 44 search warrants across all jurisdictions.

Two Saskatoon residents, Blue Pelletier, 44, and Christopher Montague-Mitchell, 31, face nine charges each.

Charges include using forged documents, trafficking in property obtained by crime and participating in the activities of a criminal organization.

Nogier said Montague-Mitchell was previously known to police for charges in 2016 and outstanding warrants for trafficking drugs.

Nogier said at least 10 officers were handling the Project MYRA file at any given time, with dozens more participating in the investigation in some capacity.

On July 20, 11 Saskatoon officers participated in the coordinated arrests.

While police are constantly working on large investigations away from the public eye, Nogier said those like Project MYRA aren’t exclusive to Toronto or other major Canadian cities.