Stolen steel palm found along with cache of drugs, guns
It started as a story about a stainless steel palm tree, almost eight feet tall and 180 pounds, brazenly stolen from a woman’s lawn on the Mountain one night last week.
I wrote about it then, with some bemusement — who does such a thing and how? — though obviously with sympathy as well, for the woman whose home was trespassed against. She bought the tree from Shawn Porter almost four years ago. It’s worth about $4,000 and attracted much positive attention.
Neither I nor Shawn, the maker of the tree and the one who told me about its theft in the first place (Shawn owns Steel City Palm Inc.), ever really expected it to be recovered.
But yesterday the tree turned up. In Grimsby. And from here the story gets far more bizarre and takes a very sharp turn toward the deeply menacing.
Along with the stainless steel palm, police discovered, after a search warrant at a Grimsby residence, 10 firearms, $20,000 worth of drugs, including quantities of crystal meth, cocaine and magic mushrooms and other stolen property.
Just before 9 a.m. Wednesday, Hamilton Police BEAR and east-end HEAT units were in the area of Main Street and Arrowhead Lane in Grimsby investigating crime activity related to Project Daybreak, said Hamilton Police Services Const. Jerome Stewart.
As a result Gabe Sciarra was arrested leaving his residence.
Police then executed a warrant and located a quantity of drugs including crystal meth, cocaine and magic mushroom. In addition, police seized 10 firearms and a large quantity of stolen property including a steel palm tree that had been reported to the media.
Sciarra, 37, from Grimsby, appeared in court Thursday and has been charged with at least eight drug offences; possession of stolen property over $5,000, with a total of more than 100 recovered stolen items valued in excess of $25,000; careless storage of firearms; three counts of unauthorized possession of prohibited weapons; and two counts of possession of loaded firearms.
Shawn says he was jubilant about the tree being found but shocked an disturbed about the circumstances.
“Finding it completely made my day, and the lady it belongs to is thrilled,” says Shawn.
But he knew something was strange. “I got a Facebook message from someone who saw the Spectator article on Facebook ... She said she lives on the street (in Grimsby) and noticed police officers hanging around a neighbour’s house.
“He hadn’t been home for two days, she said, but when he finally showed up the police swarmed in and arrested him and then started unloading things from his house.”
“That’s when she sees them carrying this big steel palm tree and she knew it had to be the one from the article.
“I’m completely shocked,” says Shawn. “I mean, what’s going on these days?”