Man faces 46 charges for crimes in Cambridge, Guelph

GUELPH — A young Guelph man is facing a number of charges in connection with reported break-ins, allegations of vehicle theft, incidents of dangerous driving and several counts of breaching his probation over the past six months.

Damien Hitchcock-Hurst, 22, has been known to police for years, police said.

This year, the first warrant for his arrest went out on April 7, when police say he stole from a business in Cambridge.

He’s also-wanted by the Waterloo Regional Police Service, accused of theft and possession of stolen property (both under $5,000), and breaching a probation order.

On Aug. 31, Guelph police sought another warrant for his arrest after he allegedly stole from Stone Road Mall. He was caught on video surveillance at the scene, Guelph police said.

A month later, on Sept. 29, police were called to an apartment complex on Watson Road North, where vehicles were being entered and looted.

Police said, after an investigation, that Hitchcock-Hurst was identified as the culprit captured by surveillance video at the complex.

Officers caught up with him in person on Oct. 2 on McElderry Road. Police say they were called to a reported break-in at a home and arrived to find Hitchcock-Hurst sitting in the driver’s seat of a stolen car that had been reportedly taken from a Guelph address the day before.

Before police could move in to make an arrest, they said the stolen car rammed a parked vehicle and sped off down McElderry. It then hit another parked vehicle and nearly hit a police cruiser head-on as it drove off.

Police didn’t pursue the vehicle through the neighbourhood for public safety reasons, calling the driver’s actions “reckless and dangerous” in a news release.

On Oct. 10, Guelph’s High Enforcement Action Team was called to a townhouse complex on College Avenue to look for Hitchcock-Hurst. Officers found him sitting in a different vehicle — an SUV, reportedly stolen from Waterloo two days earlier.

Guelph police media officer Const. Josh Fraser said it was about 2:20 p.m. when Hitchcock-Hurst took off from that complex, fleeing from police. With two high schools in the area, there were students nearby.

“He showed a disregard for public safety when he was driving through the backyard of a complex on Janefield and then went into oncoming traffic on College Avenue and ran a red light at the Hanlon,” Fraser said. No injuries were reported in this incident.

The next day at about 12:30 p.m., in a joint effort with various Guelph police units and an OPP unit, Hitchcock-Hurst was located at residence in Cambridge. He was spotted next to the stolen SUV and police had to chase him down to make the arrest, officers said.

In a search following the arrest, police report finding several break and enter tools, bear spray, a credit card and cheques not in the suspect’s name and morphine pills.

In all, Hitchcock-Hurst has been charged with 46 offences, including dangerous driving, possession of property obtained by crime, theft under $5,000 and several counts of breaching his probation, among other charges.

After an initial court hearing on Wednesday, he’s been held in custody and will be back in a Guelph court Nov. 5.

“This individual, we have known for quite some time,” Fraser said, since he was under the age of 18.

Over that time the most serious offence he’s been charged with has been dangerous driving, and he’s been charged with that multiple times, Fraser added.

Now that police have arrested Hitchcock-Hurst, he enters the judicial system — something the police have no control over.

Fraser said police can make recommendations on whether someone should be released on bail, “but ultimately those decisions are made by our judicial system.”