No bail for eight charged in West Island car thefts

Eight men arrested as suspects in a luxury car theft ring that operated around Trudeau airport in Dorval will spend the weekend behind bars after the Crown objected to their release on Friday. During their brief appearance before a Quebec Court judge at the Montreal courthouse, the men learned that their cases would be carried over to Monday. One of the men charged on Friday, Louis Bouchard, 59, of Longueuil, is already charged in a major car theft case that dates back to 2015. A ninth man, André Baron, 61, of Montreal is being sought on a warrant alleging he took part in the same conspiracy to steal cars between April 27 and Nov. 22, the day arrests were made in the Montreal police investigation dubbed Project Oblitérer. The probe targeted a network of car thieves who appeared to operate primarily in the West Island and, more specifically, in the parking lots of hotels near Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport. Like Bouchard, Baron has a lengthy criminal record that includes a series of convictions for car thefts in 2014. He was sentenced to an overall prison term of 12 months on June 9, 2014. Last year, Baron received a 30-day sentence after he was caught trespassing at night outside a home in Repentigny. Another man who was among the eight arrested this week, Mickael Boudreault, 23, is currently on probation as part of a sentence he received in January after he pleaded guilty to car theft in January. Baron and the eight men arrested Thursday — also including Steve Doyon, 37, of Lachine; Gilles Pelletier, 59, of Lavaltrie; Michel Thuot, 63, of Terrebonne; Alexandre Savoie-Graton, 32, of Ste-Anne-des-Plaines; and Marco Rondeau, 38, of St-Jean-de-Mantha — are charged with stealing cars in Quebec and Ottawa over eight months. Another charge alleges all nine possessed stolen vehicles with the intent to traffic in them.