Missing man accused of police assault fails to show up in court
Almost a month ago, Ergun Akbulut left his home on Prince Arthur St. and told someone he knew he was making a quick trip to a depanneur.
The Plateau Mont-Royal resident headed out on foot and vanished into the night on March 27. He has not been seen since; in a statement issued on April 3, the Montreal police said: “His loved ones fear for his safety.”
On the same day the release was issued, Akbulut failed to show up at the Montreal courthouse on charges that he assaulted a police officer on Nov. 5, while in possession of a small quantity of drugs. In January, he admitted to trying to mislead a police office officer during the same arrest and was ordered to perform 125 hours of community service.
The drug charge was still pending and a bench warrant was issued when Akbulut failed to show up in court on April 3. According to court records, he has not shown up since.
The 31-year-old’s criminal records reveal he is a convicted heroin dealer who once admitted to a parole board that he dealt drugs on a regular basis as an adolescent, taxed fellow teenagers for cash and “kept a knife under his car seat as a habit.” Akbulut recounted his violent past while appearing before the Parole Board of Canada in 2013 when he was serving a three-year sentence for trafficking in heroin during the summer of 2010.
During an investigation by the Montreal police in the Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough, Akbulut sold a small quantity of heroin to an undercover officer. Later on, when officers moved in to arrest Akbulut, along with his brother-in-law, they found 2.5 grams of heroin and two pellets guns inside the car they were in.
His sentence for trafficking in heroin was served concurrent to one Akbulut received after he pleaded guilty to extortion in another case. He admitted he used threats in an effort to collect on a debt that the victim owed him. His parole records also mention how Akbulut attacked another inmate at a provincial detention centre, by kicking and punching the other man.
A spokesperson for the Montreal police said on Monday that they are still trying to locate Akbulut and that the case is considered a standard missing person’s investigation.