Accused in teen’s death has lengthy criminal record
Raymond Joseph Cormier, as far as police are aware, did nothing remarkable in life, other than amassing a cross-country criminal record that involves violence and drugs.
When Tina Fontaine was reported missing Aug. 9, 2014, Winnipeg police were looking for the then-52-yearold for breaching conditions stemming from a previous run-in with the law.
Cormier had been arrested that May for drug possession. He was released under conditions that included keeping the peace, but something happened on July 5 that led police to believe Cormier had violated that condition. He became a wanted man.
By the end of September, about six weeks after Tina’s remains were found in the Red River, Cormier, who is originally from New Brunswick, had made Winnipeg Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted List. Of the eight on that list, Cormier’s reported transgressions were so dull that he was mentioned second to last in a list published by the Winnipeg Sun.
“Police have been unable to locate him and a warrant has been issued for his arrest,” read a line from the report.
“Cormier has been involved in criminal activity throughout his adult life,” Danny Smyth, Winnipeg police deputy chief, told reporters Friday.
“He has numerous convictions from across Canada. These convictions have ranged from simple breaches to serious violent offences. He has been in and out of correctional institutions throughout his life.” A Raymond Joseph Cormier appears in a 2010 Alberta Court of Appeal case that saw a seven-year sentence reduced to five-and-a-half years for a knife-point robbery of a 72-year-old man, theft of a vehicle and evading police.
Winnipeg police told the Star this is the same man they arrested in the Fontaine case.
The brief Alberta ruling indicates that Cormier had “five prior convictions for robbery, 11 for theft, nine for assault, and two for dangerous driving. The Crown notes that since1978, the appellant has been sentenced to a total of 23 years and nine months imprisonment.”
In pleading for a reduced sentence, Cormier told the court that the “events of that day were a consequence of his being intoxicated by crack cocaine, that he did not intend to harm the victim of the robbery, and that he would like to write the victim a letter of apology.”
It’s unclear when Cormier was released.
According to Winnipeg police, Cormier, who was unemployed at the time of his arrest, was convicted of drug possession in February of this year, and again the following month with assault with a weapon and failing to comply with a court order.