Robber who preyed on elderly victims now back behind bars
Statutory release revoked; new charges of extortion and forcible confinement
A man currently serving an eightyear sentence for a series of armed robberies where he specifically targeted elderly people has seen his statutory release revoked after two residents of the apartment building where he was residing were robbed as well.
In 2011, Ghyslain Bouchard, 60, received his current prison term after he admitted to having committed several armed robberies inside downtown residences for the elderly.
In almost every case, he would enter an elderly person’s apartment under false pretences and threaten the victim at knifepoint while stealing whatever he could walk away with.
In one case he walked into the common room at a residence and ordered several elderly people to hand over their money while threatening them with a knife.
In 2010, he stole a woman’s wallet and she decided to go after him. When the woman grabbed his jacket, he reacted by slashing her hand with a knife.
His current sentence (his sixth prison term of more than two years since 1997) is the result of his admission that he carried out 10 armed robberies in all and forcibly confined elderly people on at least nine occasions while carrying out those crimes.
On Feb. 10, 2017, Bouchard reached the two-thirds mark of his sentence, which meant he automatically qualified for a statutory release.
Almost all offenders serving time in federal penitentiaries qualify for such releases if they are not previously granted parole. The Parole Board of Canada was limited to imposing conditions on Bouchard’s release and ordered that he reside at a halfway house for at least six months.
According to a decision made by the parole board earlier this week, Bouchard’s time at the halfway house passed by without incident and, in August, he was allowed to live on his own.
A written summary of the decision describes how, less than three months later, he was returned to a penitentiary after residents of the apartment building he moved into became the victims of crimes that shared similarities to the armed robberies he admitted to in 2011.
On Nov. 5, someone used a false pretence to gain entry to a firstfloor apartment in a building on StAntoine St. E. and stole a woman’s wallet.
Later on that same day, a man broke into a third-floor apartment in the same building and used rope to tie a victim to his bed. The robber then used a knife to threaten the victim while demanding to know the PIN code for his bank card. When police arrived, they searched the surrounding neighbourhood and, according to the parole decision, found Bouchard “in front of a bar and very drunk.”
Police officers were able to confirm that Bouchard had been drinking inside the bar before they found him, a violation of his statutory release.
But the parole board was also not impressed with how Bouchard has since been charged, at the Montreal courthouse, in connection with what happened at his apartment building on Nov. 5.
He faces five charges in all, including two counts of extortion and forcible confinement.
Two days after he was charged, Bouchard admitted there was no need for a bail hearing.
His next hearing in the new case is scheduled to be held on Jan. 29.