Domestic assaults, stolen umbrellas and oblivious partiers

By Sarah Bissonette

June 6, 2012

PARRY SOUND - Neither the late hour, nor the fact the store was closed stopped a man from attempting some grocery shopping at the local Wal-Mart recently.
Late-night 'shopping'
Late on May 28 a man walked through the front doors of the department store and headed for the grocery section, where he started grabbing all the meat and other grocery items he could carry in his arms. He then, according to OPP Community Services Officer Charles Ostrom, went to a cash register where he packed the grocery items into shopping bags and headed for the exit. The robber's clean getaway was spoiled, though, when he found the doors locked. With that, the man was forced to use a fire exit, which sounded the alarm and altered store staff to the robbery.
The robber was attempting to make a break for it on his peddle bike, when staff confronted him and he dropped the nearly $150 in groceries, gave staff a false name of another person in the town and then pedaled away.
Police were called to the southend store at 11:04 p.m., identified the suspect by video surveillance and started a search of the town that lasted through the night and the next day.
The man believe to be the robber was arrested the early afternoon of May 30.
A 24-year-old Parry Sound man was charged with theft under $5,000, shoplifting, and impersonation.
That was one of 184 occurrences the West Parry Sound OPP dealt with between May 23 and May 29.
Others included 12 thefts, 10 motor vehicle collisions, five assaults, 10 charges laid under the liquor license act and 21 calls to 911.
Umbrella theft
Starbucks' free-standing patio umbrellas were stolen recently, and the one left behind damaged.
Police were called about the theft at 9:39 a.m. on May 23.
It's believed the theft of the two umbrellas and stands and the damage to the third was done between 12:30 a.m. on May 22 and 5 a.m. The umbrellas were valued at $1,500.
Anyone with information is asked to contact West Parry Sound OPP Sgt. Shelley Van Erp at 1-888-310-1122 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
Senior domestic assault
A 10:32  a.m. 911 call from a McDougall Township home resulted in an assault charge against and 84-year-old man who lives at the home on May 24.
The man pleaded guilty to the charge at the Parry Sound Courthouse the next Thursday.
The court heard that his wife of nine or 10 years had called 911 to report he'd slapped her face, and indeed police did notice that the area around her eye and check was red and swollen.
At the time of his arrest, the court heard, the man said she was instigating him and "he'd had enough."
The court also heard local police had gone to the house seven times before that morning, with the couple accusing each other as the instigator each time.
The man told the judge he was through with the marriage.
The man doesn't have a criminal record.
The man was sentenced to a one-year probation period and, if he abides by the rules, the conviction will be deleted.
Woman injured
On May 25 police were called to a domestic assault at 9:10 a.m. in Parry Sound. Police report that a woman received minor injures from the attack.
A 23-year-old Parry Sound woman was charged with two counts of assault.
The Nipissing Parry Sound Children's Aid Society was contact by police as per OPP protocol.
Bike thieves
Two males, aged 19 and 21, were charged after police saw the two apparently drunk men steal a bicycle at 2:49 am. on May 26.  
Police stopped the two men, charged them with public intoxication and held them in custody until sober. Police held the bike for the rightful owner.
Party
After fireworks were heard at 12:37 a.m. on May 27 in Parry Sound police were called about a party of 15 to 20 teenagers at an Edward Street address.
Uniformed police went to a home the teens had gathered at after the fireworks display and announced that they were there and headed for the back of the property using flashlights, but went unnoticed by the partiers.
At the back of the property police saw two teens at a picnic table smoking marijuana with a bong.
Police warned everyone at the party about noise and drug possession and confiscated the drugs and bong.
Loitering
West Parry Sound OPP officers were once again called to the Mac's across from the Parry Sound High School about a group of youth loitering and, this time, throwing stones around a parked vehicle. The call was placed on May 29 at 12:45 p.m.
The students were gone when police arrived.