recent crime news from Laval

Martin C. Barry, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Several suspects arrested by the Sécurité du Québec in conjunction with a $1 million province-wide fraud scheme targeting senior citizens were arraigned recently at the Palais de Justice in Laval.

Six out of a group of 16 suspects made court appearances in Laval as well as in Trois Rivières, according to the SQ.

All were taken in to face charges related to 250 fraud cases involving 214 victims, with an average age in the late 70s, who were fleeced out of an estimated $1 million.

The provincial police force alleges the suspects used telephone call-hosting software to modify information displayed on phone screens, while posing as familiar institutions or sometimes as police officers, in order to cheat victims out of savings.

The arrests were the culmination of an investigation, involving more than 90 police, which began in 2022.

Ex-Laval drug dealer jailed 30 years in U.S. for selling fake Xanax on ‘dark web’

A 37-year-old man who was first arrested in Laval a decade ago for selling counterfeit tranquilizers was sentenced by a U.S. court recently to 30 years imprisonment after being convicted of helping operate a major international drug trafficking operation on a hidden part of the internet.

Arden McCann was extradited from Canada to the U.S. in June 2022 to face charges laid by the Drug Enforcement Administration that he imported millions of counterfeit Xanax pills into the U.S.

A judge in the U.S. state of Georgia called McCann “one of the largest drug vendors” active on the “dark web,” a sector of the internet frequented by criminals and safeguarded through encryption from law enforcers and other uninvited intruders.

When police first arrested McCann in 2015 (he was selling counterfeit Xanax from a base in Laval at that time), they seized millions of tablets, $200,000 in cash, 15 firearms, as well as chemical ingredients for producing counterfeit Xanax – whose generic pharmaceutical name is alprazolam.

Another dark web drug lord, Ross Ulbricht, who was sentenced to life in prison in 2015 after founding and operating Silk Road, an unlisted online drug marketplace, was pardoned by U.S. president Donald Trump last week after spending about a decade behind bars.

Fire on 59th Ave. in L-D-R blamed on carelessness

Officials with the Laval Fire Dept. are blaming a Laval-des-Rapides home owner’s failure to properly dispose of hot cinders for a resulting fire that left four persons temporarily homeless.

The blaze, which was reported on the Association des Pompiers de Laval’s X feed, was on 59th Ave.

According to the APL, firefighters arriving on the scene could see flames on the ground floor of the two-storey house, although they were spreading to the second storey.

According to the Laval Fire Dept., the fire was caused by cinders that hadn’t been safely disposed of. Although the home sustained significant damage, their initial assessment was that it was not a complete loss.

Montreal firefighter from Laval facing voyeurism charges

A Montreal West Island firefighter who is a resident of Laval is facing multiple charges of sexual voyeurism after a female tenant in a triplex he owns complained that he set up a hidden camera and recorded videos of her and a friend without their consent or knowledge.

Alexandre Bleau, age 38, was arrested at his workplace at the Service de sécurité incendie de Montréal’s Station 57 in the Pierrefonds-Roxboro borough and was arraigned in court later that day.

The complainant, a 21-year-old woman, alleges that a camera was installed in her bathroom after Bleau and an unidentified co-owner of the triplex had told her an inspection of the unit had to be done.

According to the Laval Police, an investigation into the origin of the video images started in December 2024, although the allegations were made a year earlier.

Shots fired at Gatto Matto at Place Bell

An Italian restaurant located on the street level at Laval’s Place Bell was the target of gunshots – although there were no reported injuries.

According to the Laval Police, a 9-1-1 call was received to report bullet holes found on the front window of Gatto Matto on Claude-Gagné St.

The restaurant was closed at the time, there were no staff present, nor were there any witnesses to the shooting. The LPD said they have launched an investigation.