Ajax, Oshawa teens charged after an attempt to throw contraband into prison
Published April 14, 2022 at 5:38 pm
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A teenager from Oshawa and a teenager from Ajax face a conspiracy charge, following an attempt to throw contraband over the exterior wall of a prison.
The Lennox and Addington County detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police says officers responded around 9 p.m. Tuesday (April 13) after receiving a report about the attempt at Bath Correctional Institution in Loyalist Township, west of Kingston. Upon the OPP officers’ arrival, they learned correctional officers had apprehended three suspects, including a 22-year-old Toronto man. A loaded firearm had also been seized.
The two teens from Durham Region cannot be named under the terms of the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA). They and Shaqwan James, age 22, of North York, are jointly charged with:
- Conspiracy to commit an indictable offence
- Mischief — Interfering with lawful use, enjoyment or operation of property under $5,000
- Possession for the purpose of distributing, under the Cannabis Act
- Trespasses at a penitentiary
A 16-year-old male from Oshawa has been charged with:
- Obstructing a peace officer
- Carrying concealed weapon
- Occupant of motor vehicle knowing there was firearm
- Possession of loaded prohibited or restricted firearm
- Possession of a firearm, prohibited or restricted weapon obtain by crime
- Transfer of a firearm, prohibited or restricted weapon without authority
- Careless storage of firearm, weapon, prohibited device or ammunition
- Possession of weapon for dangerous purpose
- Unauthorized possession of a firearm
- Knowledge of unauthorized Possession of a firearm
- Breach of firearms regulation — transporting firearm or restricted weapon
A 17-year-old male from Ajax has been charged under the YCJA with two counts of failing to comply with sentencing conditions.
All accused are being held in custody pending a bail hearing, the Lennox and Addington OPP said.
Bath Correctional Institution is a medium-security facility that is on the same property as the slightly larger, maximum-security Millhaven Correctional Institution.
The latter was referenced in The Tragically Hip’s 1990 song “38 Years Old,” which is a fictionalized account of a 1972 prison break at Millhaven. (The song changes the year to 1973 and the number of inmates who escaped to 12, from 14.)
The prisons are just east of the lakeside village of Bath, where The Hip have long had recording studio called The Bathouse. The Hip’s frontman, the late Gord Downie, spent his formative years in another Loyalist Township community, Amherstview, before his family moved to Kingston where he connected with his bandmates.
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