Man killed outside police office an ex-con
Victim had been involved in cigarettes heist
A man who was killed within sight of the offices of the Montreal police homicide squad had only recently been released from prison for a million-dollar cigarettes heist, according to parole decisions.
Patrick Rivet, 45, was shot late on the night of Sept. 12, apparently while seated inside a van in the parking lot of Place Versailles, a large shopping centre in the east end. An office tower that is part of the mall houses the offices of several important Montreal police investigative divisions, including the major crimes unit that probes homicides.
Montreal police have made no arrests in the slaying and have said little about the investigation. But summaries of decisions made by the Parole Board of Canada describe Rivet (who also had a lengthy criminal record under the name Patrick Rivest) as a man who faced some personal demons while serving a seven-year sentence he received in 2007 for hijacking a truck transporting more than $1.3 million worth of cigarettes.
On July 12, 2006, Rivet and at least four other men staged the carefully planned robbery after forcing the truck to stop on Highway 20 in Lachine. The driver of the truck and a security guard, who was accompanying the delivery in a car, were tied up and threatened at gunpoint. Police arrested Rivet and the others after tracking the hijacked truck to a warehouse in St-Laurent.
Rivet received the stiffest sentence after he and four other men pleaded guilty to armed robbery. The judge who sentenced him to an overall prison term of nine years noted that his criminal record included four convictions for armed robbery. Also, in 1996, Rivet stabbed a bouncer during an altercation, narrowly missing the victim’s heart. a penitentiary when he was released to a halfway house in 2010 and later granted full
Montreal police have made no arrests in the slaying and have said little
about the investigation.
The parole decisions, obtained by The Gazette, detail how Rivet functioned well behind bars but had difficulty adjusting to life outside of parole in 2011.
Rivet made considerable effort at rehabilitation while in a penitentiary. He helped physically challenged pa- tients while on unescorted leaves and attended Alcoholics Anonymous and Cocaine Anonymous meetings. He was also getting help from a psychologist but began missing sessions months after being granted day parole, and refused to submit to urine tests.
In December, Rivet admitted to the parole board that after being sober for five years he went on a bender that prompted Correctional Service Canada to suspend his parole the previous October. He told the board his problems began when he downed a full bottle of wine and felt compelled to buy cocaine. He ended up spending the night with a prostitute and consuming cocaine — a wild night that cost him $1,000.
He told the board he was concerned about his “unbridled sexuality,” and admitted to hiring prostitutes often while on parole during the summer of 2012. The board advised Rivet, in a decision made on Dec. 5, that cocaine probably contributed to his loss of control, and revoked his parole.
In February, the parole board went over his case again and Rivet was granted a release with several conditions attached.
He was required to reside at a halfway house and was not allowed to communicate with anyone who had a criminal record, with the sole exception of a friend who had agreed to hire him as a cable installer.
The board was also concerned about Rivet’s frequent hiring of prostitutes and attached a condition that he report any intimate relations to his parole officer.
According to the most recent parole decision, dated April 4 of this year, Rivet had been accepted at a halfway house on Feb. 22, and was required to reside there for six months before he could enjoy a full release again. Based on that timetable, Rivet was killed roughly three weeks after leaving the halfway house.